Patrick's:: Christmas Eve 2011

We woke up Christmas Eve morning, had breakfast with the Beach’s and they headed for their night at the Polar Express. We hung out with the boys; they hadn’t had the best night’s sleep last night, so we put them down for a long nap. I layed down with SJ and took a nap myself. When I woke up, Ryan was just pulling in the garage. He opened the mud room door and said, “It’s Christmas Eve!!! We need to get festive- we only have 16 more until the boys are grown up!” HAHA Yes, Ryan was totally right. He bought a little tree, stockings, lights and stocking stuffers. As we sat in the living room while the boys napped, we chatted about how Christmas growing up was one of the biggest things we looked forward too. We had a huge parental guilt session –we thought we could get away with skipping Christmas gifts. Needless to say, I headed to Target to buy a few more gifts so the boys could still have Christmas.

I got some Christmas activities and came home to Christmas music on the radio, and the boys were all ready for a fun night! We made so many memories. Ryan and I had so much fun- we each did our own “projects” with the boys. It started by making toffee bars- this is a huge Patrick tradition. Well, honestly, Jana makes them quite often! J So, for Christmas, we needed to have them!

As I baked the toffee bars, Ryan put on a fireworks show for the boys. It was really fun! They really liked them a lot! I was a bit unsure how they would react to the noise of the fireworks….but, my (very smart) husband got ones that pretty much just sparkled, they didn’t make noise. Yay!!

While the second pan of bars baked, Ryan called the boys back to the back yard. Santa had come! Santa stopped by and dropped of one gift for each boy. John was a little freaked, but Stephen was thrilled! HA. We dressed our little elves and next we made ornaments. I got little green wooden trees and had the boys’ finger paint ornaments on them and then glue little green pom-poms onto them. After they finished this craft, it was time for more fireworks!

Then, it was time for a little “cookie” decorating. I made a double batch of the toffee bars, and had the boys frost one of the batches. We made Santa cookies. We sang some Christmas songs and the boys headed for bed. Ryan and I have a long night of wrapping ahead….