Christmas Eve with the Oates Family

The last stop on Christmas Eve was to my wonderful in-laws. I made a turkey at home and brought it over for our Christmas Eve dinner. It was a little more done than I would have liked but still good. The best part of the dinner was probably my mother-in-laws cheesy potatoes and Lexie's delicious broccoli side dish. YUMMY! Violet ate almost everything in sight. There were also lots of sweet treats. Adelle and Lydia especially enjoyed going back for seconds of the cookies! From there we all had fun opening presents. Everyone was super generous! The girls got toys and clothes. Wes and I got comfy socks filled with cash, gift certificates to restaurants, an MP3 player and a snazzy emergency flashlight/radio.

Adelle got this cute snowman shirt from Grandma. Her FAVORITE gift from Grandma though was a gift certificate to Build-A-Bear. They set a date right away to go New Year's Eve day to pick out a special friend.

Violet also got some candy including these dots. She had fun with some M&M candy canes. She enjoyed whacking them around and even busted a few. Silly girl!

Lydia was a little freaked out by this robot kitty at first. Both her and Adelle each got one from Grandma Christensen. As they came out of their boxes though the cats became quick hits. Violet found them particularly funny and laughed a lot when she saw them meowing and walking around.

Here I am with my handy, dandy flash light. You can crank it and it will light up and there is also a radio and a siren. I learned about the siren when I accidentally hit it later in the evening right as Violet was sleeping. Whoops! This was a very thoughtful gift from Wes' Dad. He is so great to always give us gifts that will help us be prepared in the case of an emergency. I think probably almost all our emergency kits and supplies have come from Wes' parents! I am so grateful for their thoughtfulness. We have emergency food, buckets of rice, lanterns, hand warmers, flashlights, little stoves, and other supplies.

Adelle and Lydia also got some really neat jewelry. If you look closely at Adelle's you can see that it is filled with real, little starfish. Lydia's has a little crab in hers. They are pretty amazing to look at.

We really had a wonderful time. Before too long we had to head home to get the girls to bed and to make sure everything was ready for Santa to come.