On Christmas Eve - Friday - it started to snow mid-morning. And when I say snow, I mean big, wet, sticking to everything and accumulating, snow. By the time I left work at 3:00, the roads were a slippery mess of slush that was quickly turning to ice in some places. YUCK. The snow did sort of taper off by mid-evening, and the roads were passable, though still messy. Rachel and Ted had planned to come to church with us at 11:00, and by that time, driving wasn't too terribly bad. We met them at the church without incident... that is, until we got inside.
At church, the heating/cooling system for the sanctuary was totally messed up. The blower was going full blast, trying the heat up the place, but... the heat wasn't working. The blower was going SO full blast that the flames for the candles were flickering like crazy, and I wasn't sure Jack was going to make it down the aisle as acolyte without losing his flame. And all that blowing mean it was FREEZING in the sanctuary. Everyone toughed it out, though, wearing coats and gloves during the entire service. We survived, and I guess it gives us something to look back at and laugh about.
Getting out of church at midnight makes for a bunch of sleepy people, and we went straight home, enjoyed a reading of "The Night Before Christmas", and hit the hay. The paper route means that morning comes quickly! And on top of that, the H.H. told the grandparents to come over at 8:00 am. The kids living in this house haven't seen 8:00 am on a day off in years. Ugh. So... we had to wake them up to open presents. HA! You know the kids are not little anymore when you have to wake them up to open presents, and they just move from their beds to the couch. : )
Granted, once they were up and opening, and the momentum built, they woke up and got excited about the day. It was just gettin' them started that took a little doin'. And for next year, we've decided to shoot for a much later start to the day.
Early start aside, I think the present opening frenzy went pretty well...
There were some excited surprises...
And some calmer gift-opening moments (who knew the calm moment would be from one of the kids!)...
After the presents were opened, and all the new clothes and shoes had been tried on, and the new video game was going, I got dinner started, and we just sort of chilled for a while. Christmas is always sort of weird like that - you're so excited for the craziness of it, but you're also so excited for the relaxing part of it.
We had a pretty yummy dinner with just about the most delicious, fatty, wonderful au gratin potatoes I could possibly make. And after dinner, naps were in order until evening. Charlie and Kathryn had both been fighting a HORRIBLE cold for days and days and days, so taking time for a nap was a must.
In the evening, Sarah and Jack went to visit with their grandpa for a short while, Kathryn went BACK to bed again, and eventually, Charlie, Jack and I went to my brother, Dale's, where we visited with him and Patty, Rachel and Ted, Amber and Steve, and, of course, Oscar...
Oscar's growing exponentially. He's so much bigger that he was the last time I saw him! And even as he grows bigger, I think he grows cuter. He's started giggling now - It's great to hear his own little personality coming out in his voice. He's totally a joy!
We ended the night with a rousing (yes, I said rousing) game of Apples to Apples, where we each ended up with WAY more of the green cards than the official rules say are needed to win, and WAY more silliness going on than the makers of that game ever expected anyone to have, I'm sure.
Overall, Christmas was definitely a good day.
No comments:
Post a Comment