Christmas Eve

For Christmas Eve, we went out to Christina's house for dinner and presents. On our way out there, they called to let us know they weren't quite home yet and dinner would be delayed. Rather than wait at an empty house, we went to the Thousand Oaks mall to kill some time. Jim and I were going to shop for him the day after Christmas anyway, so went to JCPenney and found him a leather jacket and a casual jacket for work.

Then we headed out into the mall. I wanted to take a peek at Santa, who was right outside JCPenney. Jim wanted to shop around, but the play area was nearby, so I took the girls over there for awhile. They had a blast climbing on the animals and burning off some energy. Then we grabbed some cookies from Mrs. Fields and shared a snack.
Everyone finally made it to Christina's and we enjoyed dinner together. Rachel was a big fan of the singing Santa and Miriam discovered a love for egg nog! The kids caroled for the next door neighbors and then we opened presents together. Nana and Papa gave the girls the new Barbie movie and the dress-up dresses and some Hello Kitty jewelry. They were super excited about their movie and dresses! Rachel got a cute little bear that makes noises when it goes to sleep, wakes up, or drinks its bottle.

The girls also got to open their new "christmas pa-jammies" and put them on before we headed home. They were so warm and snuggly. We got home a little before 9 and hurried to pick out some See's for Santa and write him a quick note. The girls came up with the note, while I simply transcribed. Then they got under their covers and went right to sleep.
Daddy got busy putting together his big Christmas present, the GI Joe U.S.S. Flagg. I tidied up the house and got us about half-way packed to leave the next morning. Santa came with many fun goodies and presents for the girls.