Christmas eve, evening, we celebrate with Grammy's family. This year was just as fun as every other year we celebrate but there was a definite sadness throughout the house as we're all missing Grandpa. Thankfully, there are lots of small children to keep us entertained and to remind us to enjoy the small things. (And Annette did a great job of sprinkling photos of Grandpa throughout the house!)

We had our Christmas pinata with four kids this year that were in the "little kids" category and got to take swings. Here's Rory, with her one armed swinging.

And Max, and his gigantic swinging.

Max also broke the pinata, look at him proudly holding that snowman's head up for all to see!

Rory's present was a My Little Pony castle set that was a huge hit with all the big girls. They were quick to help her open it up and start playing with it!

Max got a gigantic Nerf gun that we let him take out so he could shoot at his cousins and uncles. Yes, we are really awesome parents. And Max was even nice enough to let Lyla give it a try. (With a little coaxing of course.)

The kids that were too old to play the pinata game got to play the money game instead. I don't really know how to play the game but I do know that the winner, the person that finds the $20, has to sing a Christmas carol. Look at how embarrassed Auntie Rosie is as she had to lead everyone into song!

There was of course more amazing food, and lots of people to talk to and catch up with, and eventually we loaded the kids up and headed home.

This year we started carrying on a tradition that I used to do with my family on Christmas Eve; we had the kids shoot for Santa. In our family, all the kids would go outside and take turns shooting Grandpa's rifle while he held it, and once everyone was done you'd return to the house and find Santa sitting there waiting for you with presents. It's one of my most favorite memories with my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins, and something that really bonded us as it's not a common tradition. With my Grandpa gone, and my kids finally old enough to start making holiday memories, I knew it was time to fit this in. So our new tradition has us shooting for Santa when we get home to let him know that we are now home and ready for him to visit. Daddy got out the pellet gun and both kids took turns shooting it with Daddy's help.

You guys? It was perfect. The kids were excited, they knew that Santa knew they were home now, and I got to share something that was so special to me with them. I can't even describe the joy it gives me. So afterwards, the kids were exhausted and crashed in their beds while Daddy and I stayed up just a little bit later to "prepare" the house for Santa's visit before we too crawled into bed, exhausted.