Merry Christmas Eve-Eve!

Since we always spend the week of Christmas seeing lots of family, we decided to do our Christmas with the girls a couple of days early. They, of course, totally agreed to this plan, since that meant Santa came early too. :) The funniest part of this was how many times we heard the phrase "Christmas Eve-Eve", as in "the night before Christmas Eve". This all of a sudden became an important day! And, it definitely was a Merry Christmas Eve-Eve!

The girls started their day with a tea party at Grandma's, while we finished last minute preparation. Then, we had a family dinner at the Japanese Hibachi grill. This is one of our favorite "special treat" restaurants, and it was fun to dress up and celebrate.

Then we headed to the candlelight Christmas service at church, which was the most wonderful way to start our Christmas Eve Eve. :)

I was in tears as we sang the verses of Away in a Manger, as I thought about our sweet child...somewhere in Rwanda, and all the others who I love across the world."Bless all the dear children in Thy tender care..." Oh, my heart. I am so ready to have our little one here...I am thankful, though, to know that he or she IS in His care. It's the only way I can keep waiting...and waiting...and waiting. "And fit us for heaven, to live with Thee there." And, I want to go there too, to see my other little one! As usual, my heart is in so many places. :)

After church, we came home to get ready for Christmas morning! Yes, they are all "over" the matching PJ's thing. But, for Christmas night, they still have to do what I say. Ha.

And, of course, we had to have a "Mousey Nutcracker" pose. Littlest sister is obsessed.

After they went to bed, Santa got busy unloading the car from a Goodwill trip. Yes, Santa shopped thrift stores this year...you'll see why.

As of three days before, Santa actually had no plan for the Jacobs house. There was nothing the girls were asking for, and there was nothing that Santa was really wanting to get. Except for one thing. I really wanted an old-fashioned playhouse for the backyard. These three girls spend HOURS pretending to either live in the land of Narnia, or Little House, or Sound of Music. So, I kept wanting some place they could have all their make-believe fun. But, every single one we found on Craig's List was either too expensive, or a little too used. And, the new kits aren't exactly easy to put together (for us, anyway!), especially with three days to work with.

So, we had given up. But, then Daddy came to the rescue! He looked one more time on Craig's List and saw a brand new house, marked down for a Christmas clearance! When we asked more about it, assuming there had to be a catch, we found out the guy built it himself (he builds houses and builds one playhouse a year, which for some reason didn't sell this year!) AND he could deliver it that day. SCORE!!

So, the real reason we decided to go with an early Christmas, was because the Santa gift this year was a surprise...to all of us! And, it was delivered early, and was a little bit hard to hide.

It was delivered and set up, and then Mommy kind of got the itch to have some things to go in it. I know, I know. The gift WAS the house. My co-Santa said that a zillion times. But, one trip to Goodwill, and one trip to TJ Maxx, and we were stocked with old silver trays, pots and pans, teacups, baskets, and rugs for literally a few dollars. Mark even got the itch and went to an antique store all by himself, to see what he could find. He called me so excited because he found an old pie safe and an antique scale. It was fun to watch him explain them to the girls and be just as "into" the old stuff as I was.

The big reveal was so fun. And, after waiting oh-so-patiently...

they ran down to find their surprise.

We could have stopped there. They were so excited to have old baskets and silverware. But, after reading Santa's poem, they realized there was something else in the backyard.

And, the rest can be told in pictures.

Time to move in!

The decorating alone made this mommy happy.

They loved every minute of it and were in character before 10 minutes had passed.

And, of course, they have been wearing the place out ever since. In fact, the other night, we let them stay in until after dark, and they are hoping to sleep in it sometime this next week. (Once we get the lantern fixed!)

It's my favorite kind of Christmas gift...one that makes millions of sister memories.

After the reveal, it was time for presents! Sister gifts are always the highlight, and they could not WAIT to show what they had made/bought for each other.

And, the usual reactions were given.

I've said this every year, but it's my favorite part, as they each think for weeks about what their sister would want most, and then scurry around sneakily, wrapping and crafting.

This year, Kendyll made her sisters their own bulletin boards, which were a big hit!

Carlie got Abby Kate remote control race cars, which got a huge tackle hug...

and Abby Kate went with a ballet theme for her big sisters. They were VERY happy.

We had a couple of surprise gifts for Daddy, including new socks, a cool homemade crown and a "colorful rainbow" made by Abby Kate.

And, when we saw this painting at TJ Maxx, all three girls squealed and said "It's VESTINE!!" So, we had to get it for Mark Daddy Daddy. :)

Thanks to a good friend, we found the perfect "clothes" gift! From a store called Naartjie...shirts with the continent of Africa on the front! SO AWESOME!!

And, their other special gift were these ADORABLE, SWEET look-alike dolls made by our friend, Shannon. They love their little mini-me's! (Check out Shannon's Etsy shop HERE. She is so talented and creative!!)
So, that sums up our Christmas with the girls! After the morning together, we began the tour of family homes, and had time with all of our grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles for days and days! Christmas is always full to the brim for us, and even though there are days where exhaustion takes over, I always try to stop and look around--past all the wrapping paper and car trips--and see blessing after blessing of loving family.

So, one more Christmas blog is still on its way! Whew!