Christmas Eve

2023 isn't going anywhere so I feel no guilt chipping away at the backlog of blog posts I need to post.  Christmas Eve was another chaotic day.  The snow and ice storms had prevented me from getting many of the errands done until the last possible second, including delivering a van full of Christmas gifts to two Spanish families in our stake.  I wished I'd gotten a picture of my van filled to the gills with gifts.  The sisters in my ward are so generous!  And phenomenal at wrapping Christmas presents.  It was a sight to behold as they rain poured down and we literally backed the van as close to the front door as possible so the presents wouldn't get wet.  

Lunch with Dad while Henry licked the ketchup out of the cup like it was ice cream!

Randy and the boys usually go skiing for the day which allows me to wrap gifts and run errands without interruption but the pass was closed so Randy took the boys out to lunch, to the church to play ball, and shopping for more gifts.  I dropped off cookies to friends and neighbors since there was no time to drive around at night with our van decked in lights as per the usual tradition.  I'm telling myself to not feel guilt over that one.  Just as I finished my last cookie drop-off, I received a text from a sister wondering when I was stopping by for a visit.  I had completely forgotten about it!  So we visited for an hour and I enjoyed knowing that I was where I needed to be as I listened to this lonely woman talk.  The Spirit of Christmas filled her tiny apartment as we visited.

We did all our usual Christmas Eve events: caroling, fancy dinner, talent show, brothers gifts and new pajamas, and then our special family night when we talk about Jesus.  We added a new element this year per Ethan's request.  I made a chocolate cake for dessert and we sang Happy Birthday to Jesus before cutting into it.  Since Henry didn't get a nap and was fading fast, we had to do things a little out of order and act like we were all going to bed soon.  Once he was asleep we were able to move forward with our spiritual and reverent portion of the night and it went smoothly without him :)

Parker performed Fur Elise on the piano.  We've heard it a million and one times now :)

Landon was creative and reenacted a funny experience from when he was little and got us all laughing pretty hard.

Randy finally participated in the talent show for the first time! He sang the cheesiest rendition of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" you'll ever see.  Landon took off his shirt and started jumping around because boys don't know how to sit still.

Henry was super shy but finally took us up to his room where he showed us how he makes cool popping sounds by sticking his fingers in some small holes in his bed and when he pulls them out, they pop.  Hilarious!

No photos of me, but I recited the alphabet backwards.  Try it, it isn't easy!

One of the highlights of the night was watching the video of Marcus's talent he sent to us.  He played a few songs on the piano and then his companion did some hilarious interpretive dancing in the background.  I love that traditions bind us together, even when we are far apart.   I didn't ask Marcus to do a talent, he just knew that's what we do on Christmas Eve.  He also recorded his testimony that we played later that night.

It was another late night while Randy and I stayed up to wrap presents but here was how it looked before the chaos ensued.  And the tree was beautifully lit despite how my phone made it look in the picture.