This year Christmas was celebrated in town and we were fortunate to spend it with dear friends. Our families had plans to spend the holiday with our siblings. I think it was the first year we weren't with any of them so it was definitely different and we missed them!
We went to the Children's Service on Christmas Eve at our church. Hannah volunteered to be in the pageant again this year and she was a reader. Luke was certainly not digging it, the ENTIRE time he was complaining and saying he wanted to go home! He was cracking us and the family sitting in front of us up! "This is BAD! I don't like this! I want to go home." For one short moment, he got into the interactive song and went out into the isle and held up his donkey puppet....but...that was it. We could not get him to sit still and stop complaining. I was so ready to take him out, but somehow we got thru it. He did enjoy the candle lighting (glow stick candles) and asked tons of questions about how they work. Of course. Moral of the story - we are going back to the adult, traditional service next year. Kid stuff is fun, but we really need the traditional, Christmas service - good for the soul and it doesn't always have to be about the kids!
After service we made a quick stop at home to open the kids' Christmas Eve gifts - Christmas pjs, courtesy of Grandma and Grandpa. They also each get a "special ornament" from us that represents something about the previous year. Ryan got a frame/handprint ornament, Luke a pirate nutcracker and Hannah a gymnast AND a soccer girl. They loved their gifts and I was so relieved about that!
Next, we headed out to the White's new home for an Open House. They had lots of yummy food and adult drinks. :) Aaron's family has a tradition of hosting Christmas Eve for their family and neighbors so he's keeping it alive right here in Lucas. Hopefully we get invited back next year! :) Finally,we made our third and final stop to the Brown's home for a late dinner in our pjs. All 6 kids played so nicely despite all of the excitement over Santa and a big day. Even Ryan was fuss free and it was an enjoyable evening.
Back at home we rushed to get to bed. I've never seen my kids get there so fast. Nice! We sprinkled the reindeer food, set out 3 plates of cookies (one for each kid) and read the Night Before Christmas.
Overnight magic occurred and Santa was good! The kids both got "new to me" bikes (great deals from the resale shop), pillow pets, some art/craft stuff, games, a marshmallow shooter, etc. For our family gift exchange we did a fun phone swap - Michael gave me a new iPhone and reformatted my old iPhone into an itouch for Hannah and Luke got Hannah's old Leapster. H is loving her new toy!
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