Christmas Eve

While we don't do most of the traditional Christmas celebrations (no santa or tree), we do have gifts for the kids. It's been our tradition for the last few years to get the kids winter pj's and they get to open them on Christmas Eve. It was an unspoken tradition and it seems that it is firmly in place since the kids were discussing, this year, what might be on their pj's and what color they might be. My usual practice was to have a family breakfast and the kids would come down to a gift at their place setting. However, this morning, we were having some work done on a basement pump and it seemed like that might ruin the fun of it. (Workers tromping back and forth and all that) So, late last night, I had the idea to hide the gifts and leave the kids a note and a series of directions to follow. They had a really good time with it and I'm wishing I had thought of it sooner so that I might have been a little more creative (ie directions for different kids so it wasn't a mad dashing from place to place....). All in all, I think it was fun. :) The note was:

Dear Ruth, Grace, David and Byron,
Good morning! Today is Christmas Eve and I'm sure that you are all very excited. I have hidden a gift for each of you, but you have to be detectives and follow my clues. Have fun-and remember-you have to work together!
Much Love,
Mama and Daddy

Clue #1, Look in the silverware drawer

And, then followed about 12 more stops around the house. I tried to monitor so that each kid got a chance to find a clue, but Ruth did most of the reading. A little tweaking for next year should make it even more fun.

Finding the clue under Mama's school desk

David figured this one out before the girls could barely grasp what was being instructed. It was funny.

Almost there....

Score! There was the most perfect space under the table to hide the gifts and not have them discovered.

Ruth started shouting, "PJ'S!!!"

And the new polar bear pj's