Our Christmas Eve 2014

I blogged about Christmas Eve 2013 last year so thought it would be nice to keep up the tradition and blog about this year too (plus I have to do something whilst I'm waiting for the kiddies to fall asleep!). Christmas Eve is without doubt one of my favourite times of the year. It's just so magical! In some ways, I think it's even more magical than Christmas day itself.

An early morning trip to Marks and Spencer

We are hosting Christmas dinner for the first time this year and the last thing I wanted was for hubby to be stuck in the kitchen all day. We decided to pre-order everything from M&S - they do all of the prep for you and I know it will taste delicious. I booked a 7:30am pick up slot as I did not fancy fighting for a car park space if I left it any later. We had ordered rib of beef as part of our order however there was a mix up and it hadn't been delivered to store :-( However full credit to M&S as I was given two large topside of beef joints and only charged £55 for my order instead of £120. Bargain! So our M&S Festive menu is as follows:-

*Roast Turkey

*Topside of Beef

*Stuffing and Pigs in Blankets

*Honey Roast Parsnips

*Sprouts with Crispy Bacon

*Carrots

*Roast Potatoes

*Turkey Gravy

*Cranberry Sauce

We've bought enough to serve 10 people - such a bargain for £55!

Food Glorious Food

Our children didn't wake up until after 9am, we started the day with coffee and bacon sandwiches for the grown ups and juice and cereal for the children. For lunch, I made some of my homemade sausage rolls and then just before bed we made some pretty special hot chocolates. Yum! Steve always cooks us a special evening meal on Christmas Eve at about 9pm - tonight we are having rack of lamb with homemade roasties. Absolutely cannot wait! We always have a nice bottle of champagne on Christmas Eve too and it is chilling in the fridge now as I type.

Film-fest

Steve has worked the last few Christmas Eve's so when we found out he would be at home this year we decided to just stay at home and chill together for the day. We've watched a total of three movies today - Horrid Henry the movie, Wallace and Gromit the curse of the were-rabbit and Santa Claus the movie. I think Wallace and Gromit was probably our favourite and we now can't wait to watch the new Shaun the Sheep movie next year.

Christmas Eve traditions

Elf on the shelf left the children some new PJ's, some chocolate sprouts (much to their amusement) and a Christmas bathbomb from Lush! After their bath's we read 'T'was the night before Christmas' and went outside to scatter our reindeer food along our path. We timed it perfectly and spotted Santa's Sleigh (also known as the international space station) shooting across the sky. This was a truly magical moment. All of our children were jumping up and down and pointing saying they could see Santa's sleigh. Such a special moment - especially as our semi-believer Harry got carried away with it all too. Before the children went to bed we left a slice of homemade Christmas cake and a glass of milk by the fire for Santa Claus and a carrot for Rudolph.

Christmas Eve for grown ups

I suspect tonight may be a looooooong night. Our children are very late sleepers and sometimes don't fall asleep until after 10pm (and that's on a normal night). Santa Claus may be visiting our house in the early hours of the morning!

To keep us entertained we have bought the new Frank Skinner DVD and I have been busying myself laying the table for tomorrow. 

Happy Christmas Eve everyone! I hope your children fall asleep at a reasonable hour and you all manage a good night's sleep before the big day tomorrow.