Dec. 24

This morning we headed to Palmer to go to a Reindeer Farm. We hadn't been there before and when we left the farm we were so glad we did go and will probably make it a tradition while we're in Alaska. At the reindeer farm, we went sledding, did arts and crafts in a barn, sat on Santa's lap, went on a hayride around the farm, and then finally fed the reindeers. There weren't many people so Santa came to feed the reindeers with us. It was so fun to do this and Santa really is a genuinely nice and funny guy.

On Santa's practice sleigh
Feeding the reindeer was similar to feeding ducks at a pond. All the reindeer were pretty excited for food and many reindeer were positioning for a spot. I found out that reindeers i.e. caribou do not buck, their hind legs make a clicking noise when they walk, Santa's reindeers are female because females don't have antlers in the winters (males do), and gestation is 7 months long.
Santa even came out and fed the reindeers with us.
On the hay ride, pulled by a tractor.
Our best family christmas eve photo.

After we drove home, we prepared for our Christmas Eve dinner. We had the Mc Curdy's, Elordi's, Armstrong's, and Shireena over. It was great having friends over and the kids frosted cookies after we ate homemade Cafe Rio burritos (my fav).

The kids looked forward to bedtime and slept in the same room. At 2am I heard footsteps and found Sydney going down the stairs. I'm pretty sure she was sleep walking. The girls ran downstairs at 8am.