Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was wonderfully filled with tradition.
Like always, my brother and his family came over, as well as my mom.
They spent most of the day with us and we had the best time, just hanging out.

I call my mom Santa Grammy. She is too good to all of us each year.


And Uncle Jona always picks the perfect gifts for the kids too. They gave Dylan the 6th Diary of a Wimpy Kid book and also a create your own story DOAW book. Anytime we went looking for Dylan, he could be found with his nose in that book. And Aunt Donna is London's favorite playmate. 

 

 

London got this huge unicorn from my mom. She's obsessed and name her "Sparkles".
 

And the kids got a WiiU as their joint present.

Mom and I love planning the menu every year, but this year she outdid herself. She cooked a beautiful crown roast with crawfish stuffing.


The kids made a toast to the Holidays and to each other. 

 

London said she had never had sparkling cider before, and I think she may be right. It seems as though she liked it...
 

Everyone left right before dinner. We had some leftovers, relaxed, and then headed to church for Christmas Eve service. Since the service started at 7pm (which is dangerously close to bedtime) I let the kids go in their pjs. The service was pretty laid back, so it worked out okay. 

 

London was having a lot of trouble staying awake during the sermon. Since I needed her awake to put cookies out for Santa and hear a Christmas bedtime story, we snuck out to the Lobby and listened to the rest of the sermon their.



Obviously our kids are very comfortable and at home in our church. I'm so, so glad for this.  

 

We went back into the sanctuary for the last song, which is always Silent Night sung by candle light.  My eyes start to burn instantly to the first note of the song, every single year. I look around and everything makes me feel like crying. The pregnant woman that is rubbing her belly while she sings. The older family with college kids home for the holidays. The brand new baby. It all hits me in the softest spots of my heart. I don't know why this tradition turns me into such a sap, but it really does. Just when I feel like I can't take any more sappiness from myself, Dylan throws his head back and closes his eye as his belts out  the chorus as loudly as he can and as of key as he could possibly have been. My eyes stop stinging and my shoulders start violently shaking as I do my best to suppress my laughter. I look over at Daniel and he is staring at Dylan in disbelief. I look to my other side and our youth and worship leaders wife is grinning ear to ear. I mean. It was so funny. I love that he was caught in the moment. And his noise was joyful. That's all that really matters.
 

We came home, left cupcakes and milk for Santa, read a couple of Christmas books, and got tucked into bed. I put presents out as soon as I thought it was safe and jumped into bed myself. I think I get as excited as the kids do for Christmas morning.