We have been busy around here cleaning house and cooking. I have two more gifts to wrap, and craft supplies to find so we can make some ornaments tomorrow if the boys feel like it. The orange banana tapioca and eggnog are made and chilling in the refrigerator. I am so looking forward to the candlelight service this evening and driving around to look at Christmas lights afterward.
Tomorrow Nate and I will rise a little before six, turn on the Christmas lights and music, pour tea and eggnog, and gently wake the critters. They will stumble out rubbing their eyes and starting to grin. I think they will be a little bit thrilled with the giant candy canes in their stockings (pretty sure it will be Joshua's favorite gift of the day). A handful of gifts to open, then it's off to Grandma Shelley's house for a gift exchange and a giant, noisy breakfast. We will eat quiche, potatoes and sausage, orange tapioca, and fruit, happy to all be together in one loud house. We'll visit for a while then wander home to do some crafting, Christmas story telling and cookie making while the rest of the family dashes around from house to house to visit other relatives. This is new for us this year. Every other Christmas we've run the gauntlet for two or three days, making sure we fit in everything and everyone. This year we decided to take it much slower. Saturday we will have another gift exchange and breakfast with Nate's family.
I am so thankful for my lovely families and the time we get to spend together over the next few days. I love some of our traditions and am excited to be making some new ones. We will experiment until we find what works for us. Some of the ambitious plans we laid last year for the month of December did not even come to mind over the last few weeks. We've been preoccupied with so many things. As always I hope to be more together next year. But I am happy with the few familiar traditions that are so ingrained they come easily, without planning and working.
Wishing all of you the very merriest of Christmases, whatever you may be going through right now.
"Suddenly the angel was joined by a vast host of others--the armies of heaven--praising God: "Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to all whom God favors." When the angels returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, "Come on, let's go to Bethlehem! Let's see this wonderful thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."
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