Christmas Eve 2014

We had another fun-filled day on Christmas Eve.  Here is how we celebrated-

Jingles was waiting for the boys on the kitchen table along with supplies to make our annual "Happy Birthday, Jesus" cake. 

Here's Cruz when he walked into the kitchen on Christmas Eve morning to see the decorations I hung and Jingles sitting on the table.  You think he was excited?  You bet!!!

For our breakfast we had reindeer pancakes.  They were such a big hit with my boys when I made them earlier in the month I thought I'd do it again for Christmas Eve breakfast.  They loved them!

Afterwards I washed a load of clothes, we baked our cake, and then got dressed to go into town.  I had planned on us going bowling but despite the fact that we stopped by there two days earlier to make sure they would be open we found them closed.  UGH!  So instead we drove across the street to the mall and visited the food court.  Much to our surprise the large playland that is there that has been closed for over two months was open.  YEAH!!!  My boys were thrilled to get to play there again and because we got there a little early it was not crowded at all.

 my boys playing at the mall in Chiquimula on Christmas Eve

We ate lunch at McDonald's, picked up a pizza to take home to reheat for supper, and began our return trip home.  Before leaving the mall we let the boys visit this bounce house for a few minutes.

Look at that smile!!!

The boys took afternoon naps and when they got up I blew up this inflatable pool for them to play in.  It was close to 100 degrees on Christmas Eve and without a/c we were on borderline misery.  They played in the water for over two hours. 

Cruz decided to use his rope swing and have a little fun.  Here he is swinging over his pool, letting go, and then falling into the water.  How fun is that!

Even Ben got in on the action although he was a little more nervous than his brother.  Here's Cruz pulling him over the pool and trying to talk him into letting go.

It's never a dull moment with these two around!

Here's a video of them playing in the water on Christmas Eve.

While the boys played David drove over to Jocotan to pick up some fireworks.  While there he also picked up a few surprises for me and the boys.  One of mine was these beautiful flowers.  I LOVE flowers.  They brighten my day like nothing else.

I put them in a vase and sat them on our kitchen table.

We took family pictures that afternoon so we wouldn't have to do it on Christmas Day.

me and my precious boys

David, Ben, and Cruz

our little family on Christmas Eve 2014

Those are three of my greatest gifts to have ever received!

We then decorated our cake.

I did the icing and let the boys put the M&M's on.

our "Happy Birthday, Jesus" cake

Cruz asked for 5 candles so that is how many we used.  We lit them and then sang "Happy Birthday" to Jesus.  It is an annual tradition of ours to make a cake and sing.  It's just a small way to remind them of the reason we celebrate Christmas.

Here's Cruz singing another song that we have sung every night this month at bedtime.  He loves it and it just blesses my heart to hear him sing it!

blowing out the candles

We decided this year to let them open one gift each on Christmas Eve.  It turned out to be a great idea and I'm sure we'll continue to do that in the years to come.  The gifts we let them open were a remote control truck and airplane. 

One of the things Cruz most wanted was a remote control car.  He was ECSTATIC!

Ben loves this little plane!  He will make it go and then try to chase after it. 

Both toys light up so they were perfect for nighttime play.

fun with their remote control toys

I had asked a local girl to bring us some tamales.  Eating tamales on Christmas Eve is a tradition here in Guatemala.  She never showed up that night.  Instead she brought them about 9:30 on Christmas morning. Oh well.  I was glad we made the decision to bring a pizza home from town.  That ended up being our supper. We ate outside while watching the boys play with their new toys.

Later that evening we walked up the road to a flat spot and shot fireworks. 

Our electricity had been off and on all day.  At one point while we were up the road the power went off.  It was dark!!!  David ran home to get us some flashlights and I snapped this photo of the boys clinging to me while he was gone.  Cruz's face just makes me laugh.

It was then bath time and bed time for our little guys.  They went right to sleep in spite of being overly excited about what the next morning held.

David and I got busy setting out all of their gifts.  I think I was just as excited as the boys, ha.

the calm before the storm...

Ever since Cruz's first Christmas I have taken pictures of my boys sleeping on Christmas Eve night.  There's just no sweeter sight than to watch your child sleep!

Sweet dreams little guys.  Tomorrow is going to be a fun day!!!

David and I stayed up to watch the midnight fireworks display.  In Latin America it is tradition to shoot fireworks, lots and lots of fireworks!, at midnight on Christmas Eve.  It literally sounds like a war zone but it's so fun and exciting.  After that we headed off to bed with hopes of at least getting a few hours of sleep.  There's just nothing like the anticipation of Christmas morning and having little ones to anticipate it with is just simply wonderful!