Christmas Eve

I had been anticipating Christmas for months -- it is my favourite time of the year and with Maelyn now a part of our family, it is that much more exciting!

When I grew up my parents would give us our tradition gift every Christmas Eve. We were so excited about the next morning and it was so much fun to be able to start the gift opening just that much earlier. Our parents would give us an ornament with the year on it -- and this year we carried on the tradition with Maelyn.

An angel, titled 'A Gift From Heaven'

Hanging her ornament

Maelyn then opened some gifts from the Stanleys and was very, very excited about her new car. She pushed it around the house saying 'vroom' as she went.

Once Maelyn was tucked in bed, the guys started building the trampoline. I took the time to relax and enjoy a favourite Christmas movie.

When the movie was finished, I began to put Maelyn's gifts under the tree. I noticed that a few branches had fallen and started to put them back in place when the tree started to fall! I tried my best to hold onto the tree, but alas, it was to no avail. The tree fell over and all I could hear was the crashing of the ornaments as they fell off the tree. I couldn't believe that the tree had fallen over -- and on Christmas Eve!!

After about a half an hour of rearranging the branches and redecorating, the tree was finally put back together. Although Santa left me a little message...

"Jan -- Stand five feet back, Santa"

The presents were finally in place and we were ready for the big day!