Christmas Excitement

Picture of the Day for 12/24/2014. I spent Christmas Eve with my niece Chantal and her family. The kids wanted me to take pictures of them, but they all came out blurry no matter how many attempts I made. That's because the kids were bouncing off the walls they were so excited. Ethan is shown below tackling his older brother Dane and Sadie is on the floor with arms and legs flailing. 

Despite the flailing and attacking, we had a very nice evening. Chantal made a turkey dinner and the kids inhaled the chocolate chip cookies I brought. Then we watched excerpts from the Animaniacs Christmas video. Chantal read the Christmas story from Luke and then read a history of the song Silent Night which we then listened to in German. 

My favorite part of the evening was seeing all four kids transfixed by the Family Time with Santa DVD. It's a locally-produced DVD that counts down the 12 days before Christmas, starting on December 13. Each night features an 8-10 minute episode featuring Santa doing interesting things like skiing or visiting a candy factory or visiting the North Pole or showing how he goes fishing or roller blading when he's on vacation. Mrs. Claus plays an important role in the episodes too which is sweet. What is especially sweet is how Santa Claus ends every episode by saying "Santa loves you." I have to admit I thought it was pretty cheesy when I first started watching, but then I ended up being just as transfixed as the kids.