Twas the Night Before Christmas

The Martin family has many great traditions on Christmas Eve. We were so happy to take part in the festivities this year and it was so much fun to have my parents in town to experience all the fun!

The festivities all begin around 3:00 when we scurry around and finish getting ready to head out to 4:00 mass ( actually Marianne begins cooking and preparing way earlier to be fair!). We all were in the cars by 3:15 but not before we could snap a quick family photo on our way out the door. I was so impressed with this photo for a few reasons:
1. My family (minus Andy:( ) and Matt's family are together for Christmas in Pennsylvania!
2. I asked everyone about 1 minute before we were out the door to stop and take a pictures and everyone was very accommodating. I am so thankful for two easy going families!
3. The picture turned out pretty good for a self timer pic- I LOVE my new camera!
4. Above all I just think it captures the family pretty well!

A quick family photo outside..poor Zack's pants keep riding up no matter how big I get them:(

We always go to the children's mass. It is really fun with the kids singing and it is pretty laid back. We got there about 30 minutes early and showed Abby and Zack the nativity scene and walked around a little to avoid getting too antsy. As soon as the music began Abby look around and said, "It's singing time and started singing! We were laughing hysterically because she had never done anything like this before. I looked at Grandma Martin to find out if I should silence her since people were turning around and looking and laughing-she was so loud!
I finally had to take a video because it was so amazing that she just kept on singing every time music came on and then she would be perfectly quiet...so funny!


After church we had the traditional and always fabulous lobster, french fries and peas dinner. I love big family gatherings and it was so fun to have everyone together at the dinner table.

The munchkins working off the holiday meals by wrestling!

Casey and Rob decide that they would give bathing the kids a try and pulled it off with out a hitch! The kids absolutely love them and enjoy every second they get to spend having fun with Uncle Rob and Auntie Casey.

Santa sent a special message to Abby and she got to watch it a few times before bed. He knew that she had been a very good girls this year and was always sure to mind her parents and doing a great job making tinkles on the potty.

Grandpa Martin doing one of many loads of dishes...many thanks!!!!

Snuggle time with Auntie

He is pulling himself up on everything these days a

Marianne always gets ornaments for whoever is home for the year (even though since I started dating Matt she has vowed to stop) and they are always the hit of Christmas. She finds the best ornaments that represent special events for the year and are always so meaningful.

Casey and Rob opening their ornaments on Christmas Eve

Grandpa with most of his girls

Casey and rob dancing with Abby

Every year Matt's dad has read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas but now that Matt has the kids he is in charge of reading it. Of course the Martin family could not let him read it without cracking jokes:).

To top off the evening I thought it would be fun to put out cookies for Santa...WRONG! Instead of leaving them for Santa, Abby wanted the cookies and would not be persuaded to leave them in exchange for presents since all she wanted for Christmas was treats. I just had to take a crying 2 year-old to bed. This picture is before I told he she had to leave them:(

Putting our cookies for Santa