Christmas Eve Party

We had our Christmas Eve party, but we were missing Jordan and Claire. (More on that later). We ate yummy food and talked together. Then it was time for the nativity to be acted out.

Belton was Joseph, and Lilly was Mary.

Elizabeth was a sheep. 

Dayton was one of the wise men.

When the wise man brought a gift to Mary, she said, “No, I don’t want that!” (This was hilarious!!!)

It turns out Joseph was okay with the gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

This year we held a kid version of white elephant before the adult version. I thought that was a great idea. Dayton was first and opened a lego set. Taylor was second and immediately stole the lego set from Dayton. Before we even started, I told Dayton that someone might take his present away. I asked, “Are you going to cry if someone takes your present?” And Dayton responded, “yes.” I laughed and then explained that he wouldn’t need to cry; he would get to open another present!

Lilly opened some balloons and birthday hats. - You can see from Dayton’s face that he liked that one!

Someone stole the Lego set, so Taylor opened a Chick-fil-A calendar (and TONS of Chick-fil-A kids meal toys). He wasn’t sure about it at first.

Since Dayton was first, he got to choose a gift at the end. - He took the party hats and balloons from Lilly, and then SHE started crying. It was funny!

Then the adult white elephant game began. Peter opened a game of Mille Bornes - a classic Hervey card game. Pretty cool! Marshall later took Mille Bornes, and Peter opened a Torchy’s gift card. - Also pretty cool! (That was stolen, too, and I couldn’t ever get my hands on it!)

Kelly opened up a Potty Putter - a classic toilet golf game. (Ha!!!)

Matt got a 200+ piece puzzle of pictures from previous white elephants. (I came up with that one! Thanks, Shutterfly!)

Matt’s friend Steve got some goodies, including a holiday mug and some cozy socks.

Marshall stole the Potty Putter from Kelly,

so Kelly got to open another present. She got the Velvet Elvis, who returned from last year (from Jennifer).

Peter stole the Potty Putter from Marshall.

Mom got the greatest (read worst) gift possible for her: a tissue box cover that looks like one of those little furry, white dogs! At least it came with a box of Kleenex!

Since Peter was the first to go, he was able to trade for one last gift at the end of the game. He did the thing only a loving older brother could do: give Laura the Potty Putter just to make her have it. - He didn’t care about the gift he was taking; he only wanted to give her the Potty Putter! Ha!

But after the game was over, my dad, (who does like the odd gifts, after all), traded a huge cracker (think England, here) that was filled with New Year’s Eve party supplies for Laura’s Potty Putter. That was awfully nice of him. :-) Laura is the one who brought the Potty Putter to the party anyway, and she didn’t really want it in her house for another year! :-)

We had a great time that evening! Here’s the crew that was able to be there! Merry Christmas Eve!