Christmas Eve

There was just one real thing to do really for Christmas eve and that was to bake cookies for Santa!  Since we had 2 more bags left of sugar cookie mix, I decided we would just bake those instead of holiday shortbread. And this time, Graham and Charlie did the cookie cutting.  I thought they did pretty well!

I just have to figure out how not to burn most of them.  Ha ha!  I obviously have some cookies placed too close to the corner of our oven - like the ones in the far left corner.  Good news is all the cookies still get eaten :-)

My good friend Linda came by and dropped off a whole bunch of gifts!  She is such a great person and friend:

She even packed some home-made soap.  They are too pretty to be used!

Time to decorate some cookies for Santa:

Here are the ones I decorated although I ate these.  He he...

Charlie loves sprinkles!!!

Graham has his own little way of decorating too.  These boys couldn't be more different:

And for dinner, Bobby went out and bought some wagyu rib-eye.  I have never cooked steak on a cast iron pan before. By the way, the pan was also a gift from Linda that I had just received on Christmas eve:

Well, funny thing... all that smoke from the grilling on the cast iron pan in the kitchen set off the fire alarm!  And it was the alarm that was connected to the security company.  I couldn't get the fan quick enough to blow away the smoke as I was busy tending to the steak.  And by the time I looked up from the stove, the entire kitchen was so smoky!  And soon enough, I was yelling to the boys to find my phone because I knew the security company would be calling.  I felt so bad that I had to apologize to the rep and of course, couldn't help laughing about the situation too.  Oops!

Anyway, I think we were able to save the steaks!  It did make a mess of the entire stove from all that splattering.  And also in the oven as I had finished off the steak in the oven.  What a mess!!! But the steaks were super yummy and tender and juicy.  I'll know next time not to put it on such high heat and not too much oil was needed either:

If anything, the stove and oven got wiped down.  And oh, also the floor and even the microwave since I was already cleaning so much of the kitchen. 

Meanwhile, after dinner the boys are searching for Santa on the "Santa Tracker" on the internet:

The cookies and milk are set for Santa! 

Graham left a little sticky note on Santa's milk mug:

I'm not exactly sure what Graham wrote but Bobby and I interpreted it as "This year I would like a go-cart".  A go-cart???  I should check with him on that one!

Once the boys were sound asleep, Daddy begins to eat up one of the cookies the boys decorated.  Oh wait, I mean "Santa" ate the cookies...

And by the way, here is Charlie's wish list/note for Santa on Christmas eve.  It's so much more elaborate.  Ha ha!

The big items are obviously an Nintendo Switch and any type of new Nerf gun.  Although, didn't he just get a Nerf gun from his brother?  I love how he wrote "and I think the... Nevermind."  It's so funny how he changed his mind about what he was going to write to Santa. LOL!  And then, he even said "And last but not least a new lego set".  Well, I think Charlie will be a very happy boy on Christmas day!  We are definitely spoiling the kids this year:

Even the Christmas socks are filled up to the rim:

And I know it's only Christmas eve but "Santa" came in earlier and wrote back to the boys - something about needing to listen more.  Hmm... I suppose that's a good start :-)

Merry Christmas everyone!!!