Christmas Eve, 2017

Christmas Eve began at 4:30 AM for Katie and me this year with our smoke detectors blasting throughout the house. We did a quick check and neither smelled nor saw any smoke. To be safe, we quickly got dressed, collected our cats, headed outside, and called for help. Three very nice fire fighters came to the house to check it out. It turns out that our smoke detectors need replaced. They stopped the alarm by removing one smoke detector and giving us a temporary one in its spot until we get the new ones. It was an early start to our day!

Once we were dressed and ready for the day, Katie was so excited about what she called, "The Christmas Eve Miracle!" (Miracle is Katie's new word, and it's used a lot right now.) Her miracle was that it had begun snowing, and since we don't get a ton of snow here, it felt like a very exciting miracle to her. She spent a lot of the day enjoying the snow. That lasted until her excitement for the big night took over.

Santa gave Katie a call in the evening to remind her to get into bed and be asleep by the time he arrived, and right as that call was happening, Garyldine and Jim stopped by to drop off presents. When they left, Katie opened Christmas cards and got ready for bed. It was an exciting day from morning to night!

I couldn't believe it was snowing for Christmas Eve! 

Even when I was inside my mind was on snow. 

The Incredible Mr. Limpet was pretty curious about the snow too!

 I was excited to try to make some footprints and... 

...catch some snowflakes! 

When I got to Aunt Jennifer's house, I started building a snowman! 

It was the perfect size for me! 

When I got home, I wanted to continue playing in the snow, so I went to the deck to play. 

 I made another cute snowman!

My early morning sometimes caught up with me, so I'd just rest with the cat. 

When Garyldine and Jim came over, we were going to get a picture, but Jim kept tickling me every time my mom took the picture! 

I decided it was safer to stay here! 

I opened my Christmas cards, and I read one from Aunt Lois. 

I always love the stickers she puts on the envelope for me! 

I also got a card from Aunt Debby, and... 

...Uncle Jeff, Aunt Grace, Ian, and Eva! 

I loved my pictures I got of Ian and Eva! 

The card also had a sticker activity. 

I had to find where every sticker belonged! 

I got it all done! 

Before bed, I had a couple of important things to do. Santa had sent me this reindeer food to sprinkle outside for his visit. 

I got ready for the cold weather and... 

...sprinkled some food for the reindeer! 

Then I wrote a note for Santa, so he knew the cookie on the counter was for him!

It was a pretty amazing Christmas Eve!