Lindsey Unedited: Whose Been Naughty or Nice?

As much as I have been enjoying all of these traditions, yesterday the excitement got to be too much for the kids and they forgot that Santa was watching - either that or they lost the patience to care. It took Paisley from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm to clean her room. In fact getting them to all help out with chores was like pulling teeth. Because Gabe's the oldest he actually did pretty good helping out. However in his effort to help clean he accidentally put a few holes in the wall and later when asked to help Paisley in her room the two of them managed to rip her canopy out of the ceiling. By that point I was at my wits end especially with all the constant tattling. In my parental frustration I picked up Winkie the elf and tossed him across the room and shouted, "Christmas has been canceled!"

Suddenly all three kids broke down into horrible sobs and ran to their rooms. For the next two hours there was complete silence and in my exhaustion I fell asleep on my bed. I dreamed about all the previous days that had been so wonderful. Our traditional pancake breakfast at IHOP - something we do every Christmas. We had just been there on Saturday having an enjoyable time. Following breakfast we headed to Grandma Bev's Christmas party where we had a nice dinner and exchanged gifts with family. Sunday we finished off with taking gifts to the neighbors, preparing a fancy dinner and making our very first Figgy Pudding. Yes, it's actually very good. Then we watched our traditional movies, Mr. Krouger's Christmas, The Nativity and the Christmas Orange - after which I pull out a chocolate orange and we share the segments. The kids get so excited.

Yes, everything had been so magical and wonderful up until this moment. I was so glad to see Manuel walk through the door early from work. He took the reigns and got the kids behaving again. In the meantime Santa sent each of the kid's a video message from the North Pole. He said that Cambrey and Paisely were on the naughty list and needed to try harder. They were shocked. Gabe was on the fence between naughty and nice so he was happy that he had been better than the girls. For family home evening we watched the animated story of Baby Jesus - a Living Scriptures video. I made dinner and managed to muster up enough energy to make gingerbread boys with the kids. We decorated them after dinner and then the kids went to bed while Manuel and I stayed up until midnight wrapping presents.

It's now Christmas Eve and the kids are behaving much better. We are getting the house clean and ready for Santa to come. Tonight it's $1 burger night at the Burger Stop. Right next door they have hay rides and the Layton City lights at the park. We'll go get burgers and go see the Christmas lights. It will be so nice to not have to cook on Christmas Eve. We''l come back and let the kids open one present. Then Christmas morning we'll open gifts and have a pancake breakfast! Hooray!

DAILY QUESTION: How do you like to spend Christmas Eve?

Feasting at IHOP

Cambrey always gets the chocolate chip smiley face pancake

My pea pesto crostini - festive colors!

Cherise and Cameron making Grandma's famous drink. It has almond flavoring, cranberry juice, pineapple juice and ginger-ale.

Ready to eat!

Grandma Bev made a honey glazed ham

Our traditional homemade cookie buffet

Grandma Bev reading stories

Opening gifts

Grandma surprised Cambrey with this wooden chair that she bought and aunt Crista painted.

Festive for church

After church

Cambrey's nursery teachers at church gave her this pink, plush pillow for a Christmas present. She had to go home because she had a cold but she loved lying on her new pillow.