pannkakor

On Christmas Eve, we drove to Dale and Vanessa's for breakfast. Dale made Swedish pancakes and we brought lots of fruit. I took a picture of Dale on his phone, but I have yet to receive said picture... It was of him with a small stack of the pannkakor (Swedish for pancakes).  The kids ran around outside with their cousins and shot arrows and had a great time.

We ran around doing lots of things that day, but eventually came home and hung out as a family. We watched Christmas movies and soaked up some good holiday fun. Acted out the Nativity, and loved watching our kids come up with some details that we never heard about, like the duck in the stable.  This sweet baby in his Christmas jammies was ready for his first Christmas.

Our church does a "giving tree" where tags are left on the tree for a child with only their age and a possible suggestion for what they would like for Christmas. These children are from families who might have a hard time getting gifts this year. The kids and I looked over the many tags and talked about the children who were hoping for a Christmas present, but might not get one. They were SO moved and really into it. We chose a tag for a little boy. The kids helped me shop for him, and we loved every second of this activity.  Christmas Eve, we dropped off one of the giving tree gifts to another family. We put it on their door step, rang the bell, yelled "Merry Christmas!" and ran as fast as we could back to the car.  That is what Christmas is about. Giving to others and not expecting anything in return.  It put us all in the right mood for Christmas the next day.  When we got home, we called my dad to hear "Twas the Night Before Christmas" and then everyone crashed out.  We left the lights on the tree that night. It was a good Christmas Eve.