On Christmas Eve Eve (Friday night :D) we piled the boys into the van in their jammies. Mission: Christmas lights. Sometimes we do this on Christmas Eve, but wanted a more relaxing Eve this year. (Notice the variety of facial expressions here... Micah is like, WHERE ARE YOU TAKING ME IN MY PJs????)
Viewing Christmas lights in our family requires travel mugs of hot chocolate, and Grammie's spice cookies. We haven't gotten our yearly dose from Grammie, so I tried my hand at her recipe. Yummy.
At the Christmas Eve service with Grammie & Papa. I always miss my family on the years we're not in Texas for Christmas, but LOVE getting to celebrate at our church, and wake up in my own bed on Christmas morning. Thankful.
Before the boys woke up this morning, I lit the Jesus candle in our advent wreath (except I couldn't find the wreath this year, and got home just a few days before the first Sunday of Advent. So we used candles I already had on hand that don't require a wreath, and I bought a new candle for the Jesus candle in the middle.)
Stockings not hung by the chimney with care, because we don't have a fireplace. :) I love seeing them stuffed with Ugandan goodies for the younger two boys.
The aftermath. Notice Luke's stocking was almost entirely 1. Vikings 2. Husker 3. Candy. He was happy.
I bought some squinkies for the younger 2 boys. I think they're adorable, but Matt thinks they're the dumbest thing since silly bands. And he thinks we need to brainstorm and come up with the next cheaply made children's collectible and make a mint of money off of something dumb. Indeed. (I do think the marketing is hilarious. Good luck trying to make these things seem tough and cool enough for bigger boys. Your first problem was naming them Squinkies, I think...)
After stockings, we had our Christmas breakfast. I've had a hard time landing on a set tradition for Christmas breakfast (mostly because every other Christmas we're in Texas with family, so I have no control over it...) I think we've found it this year.
The Pioneer Woman's cinnamon rolls, with Christmas sprinkles:
And breakfast casserole. YUMMY. And both assembled ahead of time, all we had to do was stick them in the oven this morning.
Thankful to have the rest of the day to relax and enjoy being together. And SO thankful to be HOME. Throughout the morning my mind keeps turning to several friends who are far from home today...praying they'd find their Home in the One Whom Christmas is all about!
Hope you're making many memories and enjoying the Peace Jesus gives. Merry Christmas.
