Christmas Eve Surprise

So Brett's family has a tradition of getting together on Christmas Eve at his Grandpa & Grandma Ence's house. It's a' cousin, aunt & Uncle' kind of party so there is usually a pretty big crowd in a very small space. We love this tradition and are always sad when we have to miss it. We decided this was the perfect time to surprise Brett's family with our visit since we hadn't told any of them that we were coming. We didn't do anything elaborate....just sent the kids in first to find Grandma Jones. She saw Easton and had to do a double take on him to realize what was going on. It was fun. We haven't seen most of Brett's siblings since our visit in July of 2010 so everyone's family has changed quite a bit!

During the party we ate, Grandpa Ence read the Nativity story out of the bible while the kids acted it out (a first for our kids at least), sang some songs, listened to some stories, and opened gifts from G & G Ence. It was a great time and we were so glad to be there.

In the pictures (I have to do it this way or it creates a lot of work when I do my blog books):
Easton playing with his magnetic puzzles that he got
The girls got magnetic dress up dolls
Getting ready to open gifts (Easton wanted no part of this)
The kids acting out the nativity (Easton was having no part of this either)
The 'Kids Hallway'. Since the house is so small, the kids get the pleasure of sitting in the hallway while they eat. As I understand it, this is quite the fond memory for Brett and most of the kids who use to eat there ;)