Saturday night we had our annual Hillam Family Christmas Party. We (The Ramey's) were in charge this year. JD did a GREAT job getting it all planned and put together! I was running around talking to all my cousins getting stuff taken care of for the 'man in red', so I didn't get many pictures early in the evening. But here's what I do have :)

Mara enjoying the frosting from a cookie.
I don't know how much my kids ate, but they seemed to be happy.
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We always have a nativity and the kids dress up for it. Mara & Conli were some of the Angels. This was right at the beginning (when Mara was happy). She later decided that she didn't want her picture taken anymore, so she took off the costume and let Sawyer wear it :)
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We have THE BEST SANTA that comes to our party. He sings great songs, tells the best jokes and the kids love him!!
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Mara was a little nervous when he came out. I think she was just getting tired. So Pat talked to her, telling her that she needed to be happy if she wanted to get a present. She immediatly perked up, saying that she was going to get her "Ariel and Castle and Big Flounder". We had to explain to her that that is for Christmas day and not for the party, and that Santa had a surprise for her.  Well, she likes surprises so she was happy from then on!
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Xander got 3 new Bakugan!!!!
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And Mara, a Tinker Bell Color Wonder set!!!
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After Santa was all done we had Pinatas for the kids to hit!!!  This was something that we did as kids at the family Christmas party and we really wanted to bring back for our kids to enjoy. We were smart and had baggies of candy for everyone that got to hit it, so all the kids got the same amount of candy, and the Pinatas were filled with some gum :)
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It started with the smallest kids that wanted to hit (which were about 2 years old, I think) We were smart and got 2 Pinatas because the first one broke before the 6 year olds got to hit it!!!
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Mara was so excited about the gum from the Pinata that she ate some right off the bat!!  I just had to laugh, because it was Double Bubble and it was huge in her mouth. We're not gum eaters in our house, so I was surprised at how well she did with it.  She loved it and even spit it out when she was done.  Xander on the other hand didn't care about it at all.
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We stayed late and got all cleaned up. Mara was such a big helper :)
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When we got home we let the kids open their gift and play for a few minutes before bed time.
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It was a great party and everything went great!
I look forward to next year when someone else is in charge :)