Hall of Halls: Christmas Eve 2013

I believe this is our 3rd year doing a piñata on Christmas Eve night. The kids love it and I love stuffing it with fun little treasures. Marlee loves to help Laun with projects and apparently she’s not afraid of heights. They are prepping to hang the piñata, which looks like a treasure box this year.

Another tradition we have is steak for dinner.

Along with side dishes and Mexican sodas. The kids all love this meal.

This year Lucy joined us for Christmas Eve and Christmas.

Dinner tasted amazing.

Lucy and I did a lot of baking today. We had toffee, french mint brownies and divinity.

Normally Laun makes the candy, so I think this was my first time making toffee and it turned out really good.

As we went out back for the piñata this was my view inside our house. This makes me happy. I see tradition and wonderful memories. Our traditional Christmas Eve meal still on the table. Our Christmas tree cut down by Laun all covered in personal ornaments. To me this is a beautiful sight.

Let the piñata whacking began…

The kids got 3 rounds total, the first round they are blind folded and then after that we just let them go after it.

The kids had so much fun and get so excited to see what’s inside.

Treasure collecting time…

When we go inside we divide it up, since there is 3 of most items.

Then we burn the piñata remains.

And Laun burnt the bottom part of a Christmas tree, the top part is Marlee’s own little tree in her room.

The kids love busting into their piñata goodies. They liked the candy straws that flavor your milk.

This years piñata loot included: 2$ bills, some coins, pistachios, Lindor truffles, candy, straws, bouncy balls, glow sticks, bouncy balloons, glue sticks, crayons, etc.

Then the kids unwrapped their Christmas pajamas.

I think it’s so cute how excited they get about pj’s.

The pajama pants I got for Clayton are size 18! They are a little long, but size 16 is starting to get shorter, faster and faster. That boy is getting crazy tall.

Love these cute kids.

I thought Marlee’s little mouse-balloon pj’s were so cute. I love having a girl and buying pink things:)

Then they unwrapped some bath stuff.

Marlee was much more excited about this than the boys.

Ornament time…

Every year I search for ornaments that apply to things the kids have done throughout the last year. Luckily, I got most of them on sale, but I don’t even want to know how much I spend- ha ha ha. I used to just get them one a year, but as they’ve gotten older and done so much more, I can’t stop at one (it’s kind of like my cream cow collection). Plus the kids really look forward to what ornaments they will get each year.

Marlee’s:

Marlee got a mini Christmas tree (all of us did) to represent that we cut down our own Christmas tree. She got a soccer ball since she played on a soccer team for the first time this year. All the kids got a doggie bone, since we got our dog Raggle’s almost a year ago. She got a fish since we did a lot of fishing in Utah this summer on our little fishing boat at the Turley reunion. She got a crayon since she started going to preschool this year. And she got an airplane since she went on a plane for the first time this year with me to California.

Porter’s:

Christmas tree- we cut down our own tree. Dog bone- for Raggles. Pinecone- for the Science trip he took to Prescott with the other 5th graders, which was 2 nights. Duck- we went duck hunting. Fish- summer Utah fishing trip. Hunter- he completed the Hunter Ed program (online and field day). And the t-ball one is actually for the first time we lived in Marana and both boys did t-ball and I forgot to ever get them an ornament for it.

Clayton:

French horn- he’s taking band this year and playing the french horn for the first time. Duck- he shot his first mallard duck this year. T-ball- for when he was younger and played. Fish- all the fishing we did in Utah this summer. Christmas tree- chopped down our own tree, Dog bone- for Raggles. And Turkey- he went turkey hunting with Laun and shot his first turkey this year.

Laun:

Laun got a pack mule which is carrying Elk antlers- he got his first elk this year and went on plenty of horse/hunting trips with his brother/s. An eagle scout- He obviously got his eagle scout a long time ago, but I told the boys that they can get an ornament like this when they earn theirs. And an airplane and globe because Laun traveled “around the world” this year. I think he went on 28 planes this year! Some of the places included: China, Saudi Arabia, Germany and then some places within the US.

Laun got me a horse since we went horse riding at Ryan’s cabin. And these fish in a frying pan for our Utah fishing trip this summer. Which is funny because I think I took a picture of Laun cooking up 3 of our fish in a skillet.

Some of the other ornaments.

I had to get us this soccer one because this is the first year that all 3 of our kids have played soccer. Marlee was excited to join in with her brothers this year.

Marlee didn’t put her new ornaments on our Christmas tree, she put them on her very own tree:)

Then we decided to add in another tradition this year, which is to get a puzzle that we can work on over Christmas break. There was a couple years that we got puzzles as gifts from others and worked on them during the holiday, so we decided to get a puzzle each year. I found this world puzzle to represent all of Laun’s traveling this year.

Then we watched some church videos about Christ, because this is the real reason for the season. Marlee has been loving the LDS apps lately and learning about Jesus. I love how you can see Marlee’s reflection on the laptop screen with Christ.

We left treats for Santa and his reindeer and Laun tracked Santa for the kids online, but Porter didn’t see it since he fell right to sleep. I was also happy to have the awesome nutcracker out that Laun bought me while he was in Germany.

While the kids lay in bed, Santa’s elves got to work.

They put together a bike for Marlee and a soccer goal for Clayton. Porter’s gift’s didn’t require assembly:)

Santa’s elf was excited to get this bike online from Costco for only 30 dollars! Especially, since she just recently told Santa she wanted a bike for Christmas.