Christmas Eve 2012

After a crazy and fun evening at Nonnie's, we enjoyed pancakes and bacon. Our family enjoys bacon way too much - kids sneaking pieces, some hiding pieces under pancakes just so they can get more! The kids played a bit more, I finished making one last Christmas present, and then it was off to the races. Ok, it really just felt like the races, it was just the busy 2 days of Christmas. We spent Christmas Eve afternoon at my dad's where I showed Kim how to perfect the boiled egg to make perfect deviled eggs, not the ones that look like they had been attacked by someone.

At one point in the afternoon, the grown men all snuck out of the house. While they had a legit errand to run, spending an extra hour at Academy was NOT IT! I still had Christmas presents to wrap, dinner to cook for our family that evening, and 5 kids to get dressed for Christmas Eve service. (It would have been nice to get a shower at some point that day, but it never happened!)

Once we were able to make it back to the house, I started potato soup and got the house picked up. Steven had left the girls with me for a bit so they were a big help in helping with Jordonna. It was not necessarily planned, but the girls in the family all wore red. Jordonna had to have black boots to match Kayann and Abi and Kayann didn't have her boots so she borrowed a pair of mine. How did these girls grow up so quickly? I loved having them sitting at my dressing table, doing their hair and having girl conversations with them. I wish I had more opportunities like this with them!

We attended Christmas Eve service together at our church. Jordonna was precious during Praise and Worship. She wanted her Daddy to hold her at first, but then she got down and walked the entire aisle giving all of our family a hug and wishing them a "Merry Christmas". During offering I gave her a handful of pennies and she dropped one penny at a time all the way around the front of the church in each bucket - she likes attention being focused on her.

The Gronch (since he found Jesus in the play earlier this month) was at Christmas Eve service. Jordonna was sleeping when we first arrived but as soon as Mr. Gronch says to her, "Forget about it!" she wakes up and gives him the sweetest smile and says, "Hi, Mr. Gronch!"

Of course Christmas Eve service means pictures in the foyer with family and friends, each year.

After the service, everyone met back at our house for soup, chips and dip, dessert, and our traditional eggnog made with rum and ice cream. This year dessert was ice cream sundaes! We have a great street that does an entire theme of lights with everyone on the street. I mentioned to my husband that we should have all walked over to see the lights before dinner - oh well, always next year.