Armstrong Family Christmas

Wednesday, December 24th--Yes, another family Christmas, except this time we celebrated with Nate's family. We held our gathering at the clubhouse near Nate's parents home. The clubhouse is brand new and we enjoyed breaking it in--the furniture was comfy and there was plenty of space to mingle and munch. We all brought delicious snacks to share. I made cookies with crushed Andes mints and I also made a batch of English toffee (the 3rd batch finally worked!). We raided the pantry for salty snacks as well. I wondered if the kids would have plenty to be entertained with so I bought some craft projects for all of them to do. They seemed to really love the different projects so I think I'll order some again next year (http://www.orientaltrading.com/) The highlight of this clubhouse was the outdoor hot-tub. Yes, some of the crazy people dressed in their swimming suits and ran out into the snow and then into the hot tub. I'm sure the hot tub felt great but there was no way I was walking out into the cold weather to enjoy it. Of course, I dared most of them to jump out and do snow angels. My brave, manly, insane husband was the only one willing to do the full-on angel (got it on video but not a photo--oops!). Others layed down and quickly rushed back into the hot tub. It was hilarious, to say the least!
Part of the Armstrong family Christmas party is we all eat pizza for dinner. Papa John's was the place of preference this year--it was ordered and then brought back to the clubhouse. I really liked their chicken alfredo pizza--so very tasty!

Once dinner was done we sat around visiting and then it was time for presents. The kids received some fun games and each got some cash and a Webkin.

We left around 7:00 pm in order to get home in time for the kids to open their one Christmas Eve present (we do pajamas and the kids could care less but I do! he he) then we had them open up a family gift. It's a Disney trivia game for Wii. We played it for about an hour and then it was time to get our wired up kids to bed. I pulled up the Santa Tracker on-line to show the kids where Santa was and he was in Indiana by 9:30 pm. We told the kids Santa wouldn't stop at the house till both of them were asleep. I got the plate of cookies and carrots out to put on the fireplace mantle, Nate got the glass of milk. Elise quickly got teeth brushed and was in bed within minutes--I've never seen her move so fast! Brady, on the other hand, didn't quite understand it all so he took his time, even getting up a little later just as "Santa" was about to fill stockings. Luckily, I rushed him back to bed and, shortly, he was asleep for good! A very fun Christmas Eve!