Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve dawned bright and COLD!! A cold front blew down from somewhere. I heard the wind howling all the night before as it always does when a change in the weather comes our way.
Ben took the boys shopping for moi in the morning. Then in the early afternoon Ben and I went to Walmart for stocking stuffers and last-minute things. Wow, Walmart was busy! It was fun to be together and wander the aisles. As convenient as it was sitting in Ben's office leaning over his laptop perusing amazon.com, it's just fun to be together, discussing each boy and deciding what they would like best. When we came out of Walmart, it was actually snowing!! Really just a few flakes floating around, but boy was it cold.
When we got home, it was later in the afternoon, and time to go shopping for our Shepherd's dinner! Every year for Christmas dinner, we have a shepherd's dinner. We have food the shepherds might have eaten 2,000 years ago. We spread blankets out on the floor and turn off the lights and eat by the light of the fire. It's a tradition from my childhood, and one of my most favorite parts of Christmas. Plus it really beats slaving over a stove for all of Christmas afternoon.
We bought dried fruit, nuts, flat bread (the Naan bread at our HEB is really good), juice (in lieu of wine-- the boys each got to choose their favorite kind), cheese, hummus, and this year we bought some lamb. Did shepherds eat lamb? It seems a little weird for shepherds to eat lamb, but it probably was a pretty common source of meat. Usually I will roast a chicken, but we decided to mix it up a bit this year.
Once home again, I locked myself in my bedroom to wrap presents while Ben made dinner. Almost all of our packages from Amazon came in time for Christmas! Only 2 things didn't make it, but they were minor little toys, anyway. It was ridiculous the amount of packaging we piled up, though. Amazon.com has its "ship these items faster" option where each item is shipped separately as it becomes available. So we had a LOT of boxes.
After dinner it was time for our Christmas Eve program. When I was growing up, our Christmas Eve program was a very big deal. The oldest child at home was responsible for organizing it, and it was always a surprise for our parents. We had "Sunday club" starting right after Thanksgiving in which we would plan the program, choose, write, and practice our Christmas play, and otherwise plot and plan away from the watchful eyes of or parents. In my family growing up, we had the numbers and demographics to really put on a great Christmas program. My little family is different, and they weren't really ready to plan their own program. In fact, Ben has always resisted a tiny bit against having a formal, scheduled Christmas Eve program. But I think he's starting to see the light. :-)
We started off singing some Christmas carols, and then Ben graced us with "Silent Night" on the violin. He played violin for a year in 1st grade. But what he lacks in technique and tone, he makes up for in enthusiasm!

Joseph played a carol on the piano.

Then Mosey and Brigham and I sang "Away in a Manger."
Mosey read "This is the Stable."


Then Brigham accompanied us in a rousing rendition of "Jingle Bells."

My mom sent us these cute nativity hand puppets, so instead of a traditional nativity play, we had a nativity puppet show while I read the Christmas story from Matthew and Luke.
After that we had our annual Christmas Eve dance party! Fun times.


(if you fast forward to about 2:30 you'll see our cat who thinks we are all totally crazy)


Then it was time for the opening of the first Christmas present (a stuffed animal for each boy to help them sleep), and then bed. We gave each boy a Benadryl tablet to help them sleep. Isn't that terrible? But they did actually fall asleep!

Then Ben and I went to work finishing the wrapping and staging of the living room.
I started feeling not-so-great as the evening went on, and by 10:00 or so I knew I had Mosey's stomach bug. Ugh. At least we were able to finish all our Christmas Eve festivities.