I love Christmas Eve even more than Christmas Day. It's full of anticipation and excitement, celebration and worship. I love to shop for last minute gifts in town and go to our church's candlelight service, then exchange gifts with family, light a fire and put out cookies for Santa. Growing up, we would always watch the old black and white A Christmas Carol, and Susie and I would make fun of the Cratchitts ('the goose, the goose!'). Then we would sleep in the same bed and talk for hours about what we were going to name our kids when we grew up.
Now we are grown up and we do have kids, probably with different names than the ones we picked years ago. Susie went to bed 500 miles away in her cozy mountain house and I stayed up and put Cozy Coupes together with my husband in our home in Mississippi. (Well, truth be told, he put them together...) I miss the tradition of spending Christmas with my mom and dad and sister. But I also love the traditions I'm making with my own little family of four.
Yesterday we took Sam and Ellie shopping at Reed's to get presents for the other parent. Sam picked out chopsticks for Clay and some pretty glass bead garland for my tree. We went to lunch and then came home for pre-candlelight service naps. I love our church's candlelight service, it is traditional and reverent but not stiff. We got there right when it started and there was barely even room to stand. A sweet couple gave up their seats for me to sit with Ellie. She then refused to sit with me and toddled up one row to sit with the family in front of us. They had a 10-month-old and she spent a good 30 minutes playing with that baby's face and stealing her dad's Blackberry. Sam and Clay stood in the back.
After the service we rushed to the Deas' house for a soup supper. The food was delicious and the gifts that followed were insane. The kids got way more than they could ever need! Ellie got a baby doll, rocking horse that whinnies and gallops, a dollhouse and slinky. Sam got a pillow pet, a train set, a Leapster Explorer and coloring books. With 8 cousins under the age of 8, chaos ruled. By 8:00, the kids were totally exhausted and overwhelmed. We came home and they crashed without even putting out cookies for Santa. That's ok, this Santa has had plenty of cookies lately :)
Before Candlelight Service
I don't have any pictures from the Deas house. I meant to get some but it was just too crazy!
This morning we woke up to snow! Sam was so excited, he said 'it snowed, it really did snow!'. Then we came downstairs and he said 'he did, Santa really did come!' It was really sweet to see him so excited. And he was so sweet, he really takes his time and studies things. He picked out a present for me right away. I'm so glad that he didn't tear into all the presents all greedy and foaming at the mouth. Don't get me wrong, he loves opening presents for himself but he also genuinely enjoys watching other people open their gifts.
view of our White Christmas- the first I've ever had!
Santa came!
Santa even brought the dogs something- even though they've been all kinds of naughty.
Ellie's favorite gifts were baby dolls, her latch puzzle and her Cozy Coupe. She DID NOT like her stuffed kitties or Tickle Me Elmo. Kept looking at them and just shaking her head and saying, 'No no no.'
Taking her doll (that Sam named Lilla) grocery shopping.
Give dat baby some sugar!
Sam also liked the Cozy Coupe (although I don't know why I got two since they played in this one together all day), the wooden instruments, his new Thomas at Tidmouth Sheds set and a race car.
After opening presents, we laid around and played and read before I started getting my First Ever Christmas Dinner Cooked By Me All By Myself ready. Stay tuned for the results...
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