'Twas the night before Christmas...

We have a tradition that we started many years ago with our family. Nathan wanted us to go ice skating every year on the day of Christmas Eve. We have enjoyed it every year and as the kids have grown we have been excited for them to try on their first pair of skates. There have been times that we have gone alone but we have invited friends and family to join us several times. In previous years the Peaks Arena has allowed strollers on the ice, but for some reason they did away with that this year. It made it a little harder to keep all three kids up on their skates the whole time.

This was Porter's first year on skates and he did an awesome job. We let him walk around outside the rink for a bit while he tried to get his balance. We were quite impressed with his ability to walk so quickly in the skates.

We had a little help this year with the kids since we couldn't hold all three ourselves. My brother Chris and his wife Ashlie and my brother Anthony and his wife Ta hnee all came with us. We had a great time. I decided not to skate this year. I sat out with Ashlie and Mylie. It probably would have been all right for me to go, but I didn't want to risk falling and hurting the baby. Especially when I would be trying to skate and hold an unsteady child in my arms. Chris and Anthony were a bit help..thanks you guys.

The kids had a great time and we can't wait to go again next Christmas Eve.

Of course, later that evening we read the Christmas story from Luke 2 and the kids were allowed to open their Christmas Eve presents. I say "presents" (plural) because I can never decide what to give them. I love the idea of giving them a new, nice book on Christmas Eve, but I also love the new pajamas....so, this year they got both. I know it is a bit superfluous, but hey, it is Christmas, right?? They loved the pajamas, but my kids love books even more (do they take after me or what?). As soon as the book were opened they each rushed off to their own space and began reading (Brinley), looking at the pictures (Adalynn), and asking for someone to read it to them (Porter). It was a great day.