Christmas Eve

Pancake Breakfast

For over a decade, my family has a tradition of beginning Christmas Eve with a hearty breakfast at IHOP. We were invited do this the year we moved to Portland by our neighbors, the Jones. We have been celebrating Christmas Eve-morning together ever since!

Kyle and I, I always order lunch (I'm not a breakfast food fan), and Kyle usually gets something extremely enormous and sweet and filling. This year it was the Sugar/Cinnamon Pancake stack!

Daniel has become one of Hailey's favorite people to hang out with. She loves the attention he gives her.

Stephanie and Morgan each wearing a festive headpiece! These two were less than 2 years old when we came to our first IHOP on Christmas Eve.

Hailey, like her momma enjoyed an IHOP lunch!

The oldest siblings, plus Hailey's face in the background!!

Hailey enjoyed wandering the restaurant shoe-less...

After we got home from breakfast, I decided I needed to take a picture of our small tree before it was time to take it all down! Hailey took a long nap and Kyle and I got to relax before our party in the evening!

Monson Bingo Night

The annual Monson Bingo Party has also been a long standing tradition which is one of my favorites on Christmas Eve! Karen and Miles hosted this year, and we had a fiesta-style dinner with Enchiladas, chicken & beef tacos, chips and salsa with guacamole and rice! After dinner we began our BINGO game. Uncle Scott is the caller, and everyone plays to win 15-20 small gifts for a couple of hours. We won gourmet popcorn and a little toy bug that runs across the floor. The real competition begins with the last game, and is achieved by getting a "blackout" on your BINGO card. Everyone puts in a few dollars (or in some of the aunts and uncles case--several big dollars) and the winner gets the entire pot of cash!! This year the pot was a total of $96.00 and the winner was Grandpa Monson! It was a really fun night!

Hailey learned how to say "Santa" and recognized him all over the house!

This is where Hailey spent the majority of her time during BINGO!

Matching Pajamas!

After our very exciting party with the Monsons it was back to the Carlson home for our overnight stay. We planned to stay the night Christmas Eve so we could celebrate Christmas morning together. Before bed, my mom gave the girls a coordinating pajama set, and even little Hailey had a shirt to match! A couple of our friend's families began this tradition, and it was fun for us to start !

Steph and Hailey in striped shirts...

Mom, Me and Missy in purple!

Bad lighting, but we're all lined up!

Hailey and Mommy!

This is usually the reaction we get when we ask Hailey to take a photo...!

Waving "night-night" and ready for Santa to arrive!