Christmas Eve Eve

On Christmas Eve, Karin and her family were with the Burtons, while Jenny and her family were with the Griffins, so we decided to have our family Christmas celebration a day later so that the whole family could be together. So Christmas Eve, was our family's' Christmas Eve Eve so we got three whole days of celebrations. 

On our Christmas Eve Eve we began the evening with decorating gingerbread houses! V was in heaven, she decorated for about a minute, then realized all our materials were made out of delicious candy, so then she just started eating all our treats.

All of our houses turned out so festive and different! We had the rest of the family guess whose was whose when they came over for dinner the next day, I think only one person got it right haha

Mine, Mom's, Bethy's

Mom was apparently having a Christmas party at her gingerbread house

We had decided to try going out to dinner since Mom had already cooked so many fabulous and large meals to feed the whole family, and she had many more to cook, we thought she deserved a dish free night out. 

We checked out the Grand America's prix fixe Christmas Eve dinner. The atmosphere could not be beat, the hotel looks gorgeous decked out for Christmas.

I was excited to wear my new Christmas wreath necklace, it was the perfect occasion for it.

The meal had three courses:

A choice of soup or salad

A choice of chicken or beef

a buffet of desserts

The meal was ... not great, but we had a fun time going out so we will look into something else next year. We still had a great time enjoying all the lively entertainment and decor.

V quickly came this band's number one fan, she danced and clapped and wanted to be front row. Pulling her away was a challenge.

V wanted to take pictures of everything! Even the couple who may or may not of been getting engaged jut a few feet away from us... hopefully we didn't ruin their moment...

On the drive home, mom and dad introduced us to one of the most decked out houses in the city. They had heard a news story about the creative mind behind the magic and they went on a search to find it. This house is known for having the most plastic figurines, and the family is adding more and more each year. It was quite the sight to see!

Then it was off to bed to get ready for more celebrating the next day!