Christmas Eve

My dad and remaining sisters flew in late the night before Christmas Eve. My dad claimed that he was going to go to bed and not wake up until his body "told" him that it had gotten enough rest.
Well....with four little anxious boys, they couldn't resist running into his room and waking him up. When he straggled down to breakfast, I asked him if his body told him that it was time to wake up. He gave me a look that I am guessing means that it hadn't.
After breakfast, my dad told me that we needed to go to Target. He wanted to take the boys to pick out their Christmas gifts. Once within the store, my dad told each of us (my sisters included) to take one of the boys and help them pick out some toys. My dad then told us how much each child was allowed to spend....which I will not disclose but will say that one child's spending allowance was more than I had spent on them collectively.
I was a little unsure about this. I do not want my kids to be spoiled. My thought is Less is More.
Lyndee could sense my uneasiness about the situation and asked me if it was okay that we get the boys gifts. I was unsure of what to say until my boys ran over to the dollar cart, each grabbed a dollar sword, and were the happiest boys in town.
My sisters later commented on how impressed with my boys they were. According to them, a lot of kids in their situation would have become bratty, trying to grab every toy they saw. Instead my boys grabbed just a few inexpensive items (backuguans, spiderman, and sillybands) while the adults grabbed some toys that they thought the boys would like. I will admit we picked up some $10 nerf shotguns, that load and unload like a real shotgun, funnest things ever.
After our shopping spree we were hungry. Originally we were going to have fondue for dinner, but it was 3:30 in the afternoon and we were going to eat at Red Robbins. The food was great, but we were stuffed, no need for any more dinner the rest of the evening.
I was a little saddened, I had hoped to have a perfect Christmas Eve celebration with all the traditions Todd and I had started implementing: fondue dinner and the Nativity performance were my main ones I wanted.
We got to my house around 6, and we were wiped out. We decided to wait for an hour before we did the Nativity and the rest of the evenings' celebrations. While we all (including the kids) were in the living room I kept thinking that we should start with our celebrations, but then I was exhausted.
William was giving out commands on who would be playing which part of the Nativity. He said I would be Mary, Todd would be Joseph, Mikey Roger and William would be the 3 wise men, and Dee-dee would be the "A--hole". Good thing he is taking speech classes.

I was disappointed when 20 minutes later I looked over to discover that William had fallen asleep. We were now ready for the evening's festivities, but we were short one important player. Todd kept telling me that we could just do it the next day, but it just would not be the same. I tried and I tried to wake him up, to no avail. I was discouraged, feeling disappointed. I didn't want to have just another evening where we eat and fall asleep with no connections, no memories.

We were sitting down to have hot chocolate with my favorite, Tim-Tams (these are cookies that we discovered in Australia, you suck hot chocolate through them and it is a glorious, delicious melting chocolate cookie. Costco happened to have them this year). After we were finished, William started stirring. I was so excited, so grateful. I really wanted to do this with my kids, and now we were going to be able to.

We all got dressed up, and we had some great sports about their costume get-ups.

Lana was the narrator, LeNae was the Angel, Lyndee was Innkeeper and Shepherd, Nathan was a Shepherd, Todd was Joseph, I was Mary (I've never beat Lyndee out for this role, but it does help having a 3 year-old that believes you are perfect for the part), Mikey Roger and William were the 3 Wisemen, Mikey was also an Innkeeper, my dad was King Herod, and Grant was whatever we could get him to be - which ended up being the nanny.

The nativity went well. My dad did a great job as King Herod, and the boys did a great job as the three wise men. Grant was not so good, but better than last year. Grant was so excited about our "Baby Je-ua Ckist". He kept taking the doll from me, playing with the doll, cradling the doll, and dropping the doll. Needless to say, I will not be allowing him to hold a baby anytime soon.

After our presentation, we ended with singing some hymns.

It was very beautiful, very peaceful, and I felt such a tender mercy from the Lord. He knew that my heart was desiring this experience for my kids, for my family, and for me.

We put the kids to bed, which was actually on the floor of my room. They were excited, but tuckered out.

Then we adults went to work with the rest of the Christmas preparations....getting things ready for when Santa came down the chimney.

"Who do they think puts all their toys under the tree?"

Papa Elf: "Well, there's a rumor floating around that uh, that the parents do it."

Buddy: "That's... That's ridiculous. I mean, parents couldn't do that all in one night. What about Santa's cookies? I suppose parents eat them too?"

We spent way too much time and had way too much fun playing with the Nerf Shotguns - but I will say, I am the champion shooter.

Then we had my dad read "The White Arrowhead". It's a story that we've read every Christmas eve for years and years. Of course we all get emotional during it.

Then as we set up the presents, we watched "Support Your Local Sheriff" - a tradition of my parents. If you have never seen it, it is worth picking up. Hi-lar-ious.

We went to bed around 4 or 5, exhausted, happy, and excited for the kids' reactions in the morning.