Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve morning I made biscuits and chocolate gravy for the kids then sat down to make a grocery list. I hated the idea of going to the grocery store on Christmas Eve, but it had to be done. Lane was home (SO thankful for the way his holiday schedule worked out!) with the kids and I was leaving for the store when I noticed a familiar (see here and here) warning light on the dash. The right rear tire pressure was at 23, and I could see a piece of metal in it when I got out to look. So I spent part of the morning hanging out at Firestone while they repaired our third tire...definitely glad we bought the "road hazard" plan when we bought those tires. Then I faced the crowd at Kroger and made it out with no injuries. I was so glad to get home. After the busy morning, it was really nice to make it to the Christmas Eve candlelight service at our church and just slow down and remember what this holiday is all about. The music was wonderful. Merlon Devine played the saxophone, and I loved listening to him. When he started playing the saxophone, Crosby yelled, "Look, an instrument!"

We sat in the row behind our friends, the Svobodas, so B took a quick family picture of us before the service started.

I look forward to the candlelight service every year. It's always so pretty, and I just love to see the kids' faces glowing by their lights and thinking about Jesus being the light of our lives and our everything--at Christmas and every other day of the year.

It was a great evening.

***

When we got home the kids ate dinner, and we made cookies for Santa while Lane made party mix (one of his favorite holiday treats--recipe below).We made two choices for Santa and the elf: traditional chocolate chip cookies and Mini Reeses cookies which I just learned about from my neighbor. (She used peanut butter cookie dough and pressed it into mini muffin cups, baked then added the peanut butter cup when they came out of the oven--they were delicious. Kroger was out of PB dough though, so I used chocolate chip cookie dough and peanut butter cups and we liked those too.) If you try these, make sure to let them cool completely in the muffin tin or they'll fall apart!

the kids unwrapping Reeses for the cookies (and eating a few along the way)

Rhett left Santa and our elf a note by the fireplace explaining how many treats were for each of them. The note also pointed them to the breakfast table for the goodies (so Bogart couldn't reach them).

Three very excited kids! :)

Christmas Eve night--reading books with C, who was getting very sleepy.

R & A watching Google Santa Tracker

"The children were nestled all snug in their beds"

view of the tree from upstairs

Good night!

***

Party Mix

1) Combine into a saucepan and heat until melted/mixed well:

8 1/2 tsp. worcestershire sauce

3 1/2 tsp. Tabasco

1 tsp. lemon juice

1 1/2 tsp. Lowry seasoned salt

1 tsp. garlic salt

1 stick butter

2) Mix into a large foil baking pan:

1 box Crispix

Cheez-its (or cheddar goldfish)

Pretzels

cashews

Drizzle heated mixture over Crispix mixture and stir gently to coat evenly. Bake at 240 for 1 1/2 hours, stirring every 20 minutes.

Happy Hot Springs Holiday

What a blessing to have family to celebrate with! Today we spent the day in Hot Springs with Lane's side of the family.

Grammy & Bobba gave Alexee a Cinderella Barbie, which she has been wishing for! Thank you, Bob and Rose Mary, for everything!

Crosby got some fun musical instruments! He also enjoyed an entire box of Whoppers. :)

sweet boy!

Rhett lined his gifts up to for the picture. He was happy to complete the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. He read through Cabin Fever while we were at their house today, and he cleaned off a shelf for them when he got home tonight. He was also excited to play his new Super Mario wii game--he rushed to take his shower so he could play it for a while before bed.

Rhett, Grammy & Bobba

little drummer boy

Bobba & Alexee

Grammy playing the drum

Bobba trying the peanut clusters

Alexee got several new coloring books and markers--she went right to work. This girl loves to color.

I had to laugh when I glanced over at the couch and saw Felicity sitting there--bad hair day! :)

We gave Lane's parents a Shutterfly photo book with highlights from 2011.

Opening a gift from Uncle Lance, Aunt Jennifer, Luke & Katie

Bob and Lane went to pick up BBQ for lunch (and pizza and chicken for the kids), and I took banana pudding for dessert.

Group Photo

Back: Lane, Bob, Rose Mary, Luke, Lance

Front: Katie, me, Crosby, Rhett, Jennifer & Alexee

Grammy, Alexee and cousins Luke (who is 16 and driving--how is this possible?) & Katie (who is 13 and has such a beautiful voice. She is singing in the Christmas Eve service at their church tomorrow.) They were younger than Rhett and Alexee when I first met them...the years have gone by way too fast. How are they so grown up already? It scares me to think that I'll blink again and Rhett and Alexee will be this old! :(

We had originally planned to go to Garvan Gardens to look at Christmas lights before coming home, but we decided not to. Lane's brother told us it had been really crowded with long lines to even get in. Also, the kids had been up since 5 a.m. (with no naps for A & C), so they were tired (and so was I)--even without chasing them all around the gardens.

Thankful for a fun day with loved ones. It doesn't seem like tomorrow could be Christmas Eve!? Didn't the school year just start back?

At the Capitol

The holiday fun continues! Lane had the day off so we all went out for lunch then took the boys to their haircut appointments. While A & C napped this afternoon, I made another batch of peanut clusters. I think I'm officially tired of peanut clusters for a while. I packaged them up for our neighbors and Rhett and Alexee delivered them. They thought that was fun, and it was cute to stand on the porch and hear them tell people "Merry Christmas" and then watch them run with excitement to the next house.

Ready to make the deliveries

This evening we made our annual trip to see the Christmas decorations at the Capitol Building. First we stopped outside to look at the beautiful nativity scene. Of course Crosby wanted to take a closer look! I snapped just a few pictures before I made him get out. R & A wanted to follow him, but I told them we might get arrested for going in there since it was state property!

Rhett took this one of us

Lane was the photographer for the rest of the visit. I thought this looked neat with the clouds in the background.

Rhett said, "Look, he's made of gold!"

Opening Sibling Gifts

Last Friday the kids talked us into letting them open their gifts from each other. They were all pleased with what they received.

(One negative to early gift opening: it gave Crosby ideas. A few days later I found that he'd opened a few more gifts from under the tree. I grabbed them and took them back to hiding--I guess I'll just wrap everything on Christmas Eve!)

Rhett liked his wii game from Alexee and Crosby and has had fun playing it while on Christmas break. Alexee was excited about the Repunzel Barbie from her brothers. Crosby has had a lot of fun playing with his CAT toys from Alexee and Rhett, he especially likes the dump truck.

three blessings!

Rhett kindly offered to help Alexee cut Repunzel out of the box. I had to be sneaky when I saw him accidentally cut off a strand of her long hair. There's a little piece missing from the side of her face, but I think I convinced Alexee it was her bangs (??).
Poor Big Brother Bogart--they forgot to get him a "sibling" gift. Maybe Santa will bring him some treats.

*****

This morning I took the kids to get donuts for breakfast. They voted for Krispy Kreme.

enjoying a plain-glazed

Crosby watching the donut-making process

I'm glad this week isn't as busy as last week. Last week was hectic, and I was so worn out by Saturday night. After Christmas at my sister's on Saturday, we rushed home and got ready for a couples' Christmas party with my Pokeeno group. It was really fun, but I didn't take a single picture. When we got home from there I was asleep on the couch within minutes. This week, Alexee was invited to a play-date at our neighbor's house. She chose her own Christmas outfit and had a lot of fun playing with her friends for a few hours. We picked her up from there and went to lunch (Lane was off on Monday), then I went grocery shopping while the kids napped and then took Alexee to gymnastics.

Rhett has been practicing shooting his BB gun. He wanted to show me how to do it, so I tried, too. He's a good instructor. :)
The kids have also been having a lot of fun in the huge box from our new dishwasher. They cut windows and doors in it for a playhouse and R & A even slept in it one night. :) They put their pillows inside the box and slept in their sleeping bags with their feet sticking out.
We're looking forward to a day-trip to see Lane's family later this week, the Christmas Eve service at church and then...CHRISTMAS MORNING! I hope you are having a great week before Christmas!