December 24th

Happy Christmas Eve!

Last night coughing kept me up so I didn't roll out of bed until 8am. Amy and I were texting back and forth. So happy to have a friend like her.

For breakfast I had a hot cup of wassail. There is still some leftover from the recital. Brad made the boys eggs for breakfast. He and the boys worked on the puzzle in the dining room. Nana was emptying the dishwasher. Thankful for her help.

Brad, his mom, and the girls went to the grocery store. While they were gone, I quickly put together a 2013 calendar for his mom (thank goodness for SRM stickers!). I ordered a dozen photos from this year to pick up at Costco when we headed to Issaquah for the Christmas Eve service. Bird was really wanting my attention. Sometimes I am so torn between spending time with him and having to get something done. Doesn't that seem silly? Why can't I just spend time with him? I felt a crunch to get the calendar done though. I asked him to bring a book over by my table and read to me from "The Book of Three". But he ended up playing with Krish and Merek instead.

After I finished the calendar, I sat down and played Battleship with him.

Brad made a big hoagie sandwich for lunch, along with veggies and spinach dip. After we finished that, we headed out to go caroling to neighbors. We went to 8 houses and took the goody plates with us. It started raining. I'm hoping for snow tomorrow. The forecast says we should get some. Oh, I'm dreaming of a white Christmas!

When we got back from caroling, Merek and I spent a little time together in his room. He was playing with his cars. I rested a bit. We needed to get ready for Christmas Eve service. The kids dressed up so nice--I should have taken a picture!

There was a short rehearsal before the service so when we got to the church, Brad and the kids got out to go to the practice, and Nana went to save us a bench. Miranda and I drove over to Costco to pick up the photos. I always think, "Oh, I'll just run over to Costco." Thirty minutes later we got back to St. Michaels and the parking lot was full. So we went and parked at the school across the street and walked over to the church. Good thing Nana had saved us a seat!

I wasn't really feeling in the Christmas mood, but as soon as we began singing the first song, "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing", chills ran through me and I felt the Christmas spirit. Krish looked very distinguished as Joseph. Merek said he wanted to be a horse but apparently there were no horse costumes because he came out as a rooster again this year. Bird was a good-looking shepherd and Lina was part of the angel choir. It was perfect.

We came home afterwards and got to work on dinner. Well, Brad and his mom got to work on dinner. I looked through the Christmas cards that arrived in today's mail. And helped a little by slicing the bread and putting away some dishes. Brad is such an amazing cook it is better if I just stay out of the kitchen. He made some cod and fettuchini alfredo (homemade sauce) with shrimp.

After dinner the kids were anxious to open their pajamas from Grandma Kathy. But we made them wait until we had dinner dishes cleared and the kitchen cleaned up (that is my job). Finally, we opened the jammies and they all went to change. We watched the DVD of Merek as a wise man, along with other kids portraying the First Christmas. Then I headed upstairs to finish the calendar while Brad, the kids, and his mom finished up some wrapping. Lina came up and helped me put all the numbers on the calendar months. A huge help!

We watched The Nativity video and then put the kids to bed. They are all sleeping in Lina and Bird's room tonight. We are still waiting for them to go to sleep. Hopefully that happens soon because Santa should be arriving in about an hour. I put the Christmas Morning Carmel Rolls in the oven to rise.

Looking forward to tomorrow. I don't worry too much about the kids not going to sleep . . . I well remember anxiously waiting on Christmas Eve night and not falling asleep easily. :)