Soon it will be Christmas Day!

It's been the craziest December on the books.  I am not kidding!  There truly was not a day in the month of December that lacked one, if not more than one, major event... until maybe Tuesday of this week.  (Maybe this explains why I'll be sending New Year's or Valentine's Day cards this year in lieu of Christmas cards.)  Don't get me wrong... it's been a lot of fun.  We've just been lacking severely in the Down Time Department.  Regardless of the chaos, it was a slightly stressed, but very merry Christmas!



Here's a little peek at our Christmas Eve festivities... please note Lexi's wardrobe changes throughout the day.  Sadly, this is typical.

Jeremy and I finished up our grocery shopping and putting the groceries away at 12:30am on Christmas Eve while my Grandma and the kids slept.  Fortunately, Kroger was very quiet (a much needed change of pace!) so it was pretty easy to do.  We had one of those cartloads where I have to put my entire weight into pushing it just to manuever it around the store.  Unfortunately, I didn't think to ring up the wine first, so when the cashier scanned it towards the end of my order at 12:04am, I couldn't purchase it.  That meant another trip to the store in the daytime.  Lesson learned!

Justus and I headed out to Target and a few other stores in the morning to finish up my last minute gifts.  Meanwhile, Jeremy and Lexi kicked off our holiday baking by making some homemade fudge.

Love, love, love this mischievous look!   This girl adores chocolate... just like Mommy! 

I declared my shopping finally done and Justus and I headed home.

Time out for a princess story

 We decided it was better late than never and did some more holiday baking!

 

We made {Holiday Pretzel Treats} with my Grandma

 We expected my Dad to arrive early that afternoon and I snickered and ran for my camera when I walked into the dining room and saw my adorable kids eagerly awaiting his arrival....

I couldn't help but laugh because it reminded me so much of this famous drawing from The Cat in The Hat.

Don't worry, they didn't sit like that for long!  My Dad arrived and the baking continued.  Jeremy ran a few errands and went to church early to greet people at the Candlelight service.

We made {Glory's sugar cookies} with my Dad

We got them baked but realized we'd have to save the cookie decorating for later.  A quick kitchen clean up later, it was time to get everyone ready for the Candlelight service.  I painted Lexi's nails, braided her hair, did some gel/hair consulting with Justus, got myself ready and managed to walk out the door when I intended to.  If you know me, that's an achievement!  There should be medals for that sort of thing.



Sweet moment-the kiddos walking into church with my Dad

We caught up with Jeremy at church and really enjoyed the Candlelighting Service, which we navigated this year without any major threat to burning anything down.  Lesson from last year's service:  two adults plus one toddler should equal two candles total.  More and you risk burning the place down... less and you risk an emotional outburst on the part of said toddler.  Two was just right!



Lexi and precious friend, Mei Mei

The service was wonderful... great music and thoughts to remind us of how & why Jesus came into the world as a baby and that we should celebrate that and share it.  We truly are blessed by His grace.

Speaking of blessed, this is one of those blessed moments to capture Great-Grandma's hand on Justus' shoulder as we left the sanctuary. 

After church, we headed home for dinner.  We have a tradition of having fondue on Christmas Eve.  I cannot wait to tell you all the details!  I feel like I finally perfected the menu after what???...  Like five or six years of experimenting!  Stay tuned.

Everyone raved about dinner... including my kids!

I can't remember how we got on the subject, but during dinner we opened one of the packages that had arrived that afternoon.  This was a gift I had made for the Williams' families.

It's a gallery-wrapped canvas with phtos ofall the members of our family holding the letters of our last name.

It was getting kind of late, so everyone opened their Christmas pajamas gift while we had dessert.



Bedtime story:  Mickey's Night Before Christmas



With the kids all tucked into bed, we chatted at the table.  Grandma and Dad told stories as we looked through the heritage album that I had made for her.  I felt incredibly lucky to be with two of my favorite people taking a trip down memory lane!



Merry Christmas from us to you!

We had a wonderful evening!  Dad, Jeremy, and I cleaned up the kitchen and I wish I could say that was the end of the day... but as I said, December was chaos, so I began all of my wrapping (along with a handful of others) at 11pm.  Jeremy and Dad braved the cold to set up the kids big present in the backyard, but I'll save that for another post.  ;)  As you can imagine, it was another late night... but well worth the effort!

Merry Christmas and good night!



Photos taken on my {new camera} which came, not from Santa, but from Recognition & Awards at work!