Christmas Eve

Happy Christmas Eve!  In our house, we follow two traditions, one from Sarah's side of the family, and one from Jeremy's side.  Sarah grew up "normal," opening presents on Christmas morning.  Jeremy grew up "different" opening presents on Christmas Eve.  So, we do both.  Presents are reserved for Christmas morning, with the exception of one for each child.  Some years, mom and dad choose the ones opened, sometimes the kids pick out whichever one they'd had their eye on, and some years we open the ones that were sent all from an extended family member.  This year, Sarah's cousin's Kelly and Niki, and their mom/Sarah's aunt Cari had made all the kids similiar gifts and were there to see the kids open them, so that was this year's Christmas Eve gift.  Aren't they cute blankets?!

Then, we went over to the Washington D.C. Temple Visitor's Center to see all the lights and the outdoor nativity display.

Then, we went inside to visit the Visitor's Center, see the Christmas trees who were beautifully decorated by various local families, and see the nativity sets from various international countries.  Here were some of Sarah's favorites (from Finland, Japan, Brazil, Thailand, somewhere in Eastern Europe, and South Africa):

By now, we'd all gathered and so we went outside and took more pictures of ourselves, then left for home and late bedtimes for the kids: