Christmas Eve was good this year, but I think the cranky bug bit all of my kids yesterday (not fun the day before Christmas!). The weather was cold and rainy, so the kids were pretty much inside all day. Thankfully Lee was home and could help me with some projects and with the kids. Clark and Cal's second cousin Marc got them a Star Wars Angry Birds puzzle. Clark had fun putting that together that morning. Later that afternoon they watched A Muppet Christmas Carol. I love that movie! I also did some baking. I got all of the pie crusts rolled out and made the pumpkin pie filling. I put the filling in the fridge and baked the pies last night. I also made a cranberry pie....a Christmas staple in our house! Christmas Eve is my dad's birthday and that morning we all got on google+ to wish him a happy birthday. People kept getting on and we sang happy birthday to him three times. I thought that was funny. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!
Oh, and I didn't mention anything about our dryer. Last Thursday our dryer stopped working. As my sister-in-law pointed out, the dryer is good appliance to "break". Friday night I draped two loads of laundry around the house, which worked out well. Friday morning I started chatting with my brother Daniel asking him about broken dryers. I went to the right source! He told me two possible problems and even sent me a diagram of what the inside of the dryer should look like. It was great information. It would have taken Lee and I a LOT longer to figure that all out. Well, Saturday Lee was able to get the right parts and that night our dryer was working again! YAY! Thanks Daniel and Lee!
On to Christmas Eve evening.....throughout my life I've been caroling here and there. Last year we went caroling with two families in our ward at a nursing home. I was sad that we hadn't done two things during the Christmas season--attending a live nativity and caroling. Well, Sunday my friend told me that they were going caroling Christmas Eve. I was very excited! Funny enough another friend in the ward was hosting song-singing and a nativity at her home, but we didn't go. It was at 6pm on Sunday and we didn't get home till about 5. The drive would be about 45 minutes from our house, so we decided not to go. Anyway, we did go caroling Christmas Eve and I really enjoyed it.
While caroling, one man there came out and started singing with us. Then he brought out his wife who you could tell had mental problems. She seemed non-responsive, but then my friend Chandra held her hand while she was signing and the lady started crying. It was so sweet that he was spending time with his wife, which I am sure he does daily. Chandra started tearing up and I saw her, then I cried too. I felt so blessed to be with all of my family on Christmas Eve. The other fun thing about going to Harrisonburg caroling was that is had snowed!!! It was snowing in Elkton but not for very long and nothing stuck. It's sad not having white Christmases. But the kids played a little in the snow and loved it. I loved seeing snow on Christmas Eve. I am excited about a yearly caroling trip with them! Thanks for inviting us Chandra!
I really wanted the kids to be in bed at 7pm, but that didn't happen (they were all asleep around 9:30). After caroling our kids acted out the nativity, with some reluctance. Cal as an angel.
Clark a wiseman.
Elden as himself.
Cal now a shepherd with his sheep.
Shanna as Mary.
Shanna, Haley and Clark left cookies for Lee. We don't really do "Santa" around here. We'll read Santa stories and they'll sit on his lap at different functions, but my kids know that Dad is Santa and that Santa himself is not a real person. He is a fun, imaginative person. Last night I mentioned to to kids that they should leave a treat for "Santa", meaning Lee. Clark said, why should I do that, he's not real. I told him that Dad would like a treat while he was setting out presents. I told him that a few years ago my sister Lois left Santa a nice piece of cheese and she got a digital camera for Christmas. The next morning my dad said to Lois, "Behold, the power of cheese!". I love Haley's writing on the card for "Santa".
Last year all the kids slept in Shanna/Haley/Elden's room. We did that again this year, and I think we will do that every year. When the kids presents came in the mail (we bought almost everything from Amazon, and I loved it!) we just hid them. I thought about wrapping them about a week ago and I decided to just wait until Christmas Eve. We don't get our kids a lot of presents, so it was easy to do. We watched A Christmas Carol, starring Patrick Stewart (my favorite version!) while we wrapped their presents. After setting everything up for Christmas morning, we were off to bed...Christmas morning actually.
Oh, and I didn't mention anything about our dryer. Last Thursday our dryer stopped working. As my sister-in-law pointed out, the dryer is good appliance to "break". Friday night I draped two loads of laundry around the house, which worked out well. Friday morning I started chatting with my brother Daniel asking him about broken dryers. I went to the right source! He told me two possible problems and even sent me a diagram of what the inside of the dryer should look like. It was great information. It would have taken Lee and I a LOT longer to figure that all out. Well, Saturday Lee was able to get the right parts and that night our dryer was working again! YAY! Thanks Daniel and Lee!
On to Christmas Eve evening.....throughout my life I've been caroling here and there. Last year we went caroling with two families in our ward at a nursing home. I was sad that we hadn't done two things during the Christmas season--attending a live nativity and caroling. Well, Sunday my friend told me that they were going caroling Christmas Eve. I was very excited! Funny enough another friend in the ward was hosting song-singing and a nativity at her home, but we didn't go. It was at 6pm on Sunday and we didn't get home till about 5. The drive would be about 45 minutes from our house, so we decided not to go. Anyway, we did go caroling Christmas Eve and I really enjoyed it.
While caroling, one man there came out and started singing with us. Then he brought out his wife who you could tell had mental problems. She seemed non-responsive, but then my friend Chandra held her hand while she was signing and the lady started crying. It was so sweet that he was spending time with his wife, which I am sure he does daily. Chandra started tearing up and I saw her, then I cried too. I felt so blessed to be with all of my family on Christmas Eve. The other fun thing about going to Harrisonburg caroling was that is had snowed!!! It was snowing in Elkton but not for very long and nothing stuck. It's sad not having white Christmases. But the kids played a little in the snow and loved it. I loved seeing snow on Christmas Eve. I am excited about a yearly caroling trip with them! Thanks for inviting us Chandra!
I really wanted the kids to be in bed at 7pm, but that didn't happen (they were all asleep around 9:30). After caroling our kids acted out the nativity, with some reluctance. Cal as an angel.
Clark a wiseman.
Elden as himself.
Cal now a shepherd with his sheep.
Shanna as Mary.
Shanna, Haley and Clark left cookies for Lee. We don't really do "Santa" around here. We'll read Santa stories and they'll sit on his lap at different functions, but my kids know that Dad is Santa and that Santa himself is not a real person. He is a fun, imaginative person. Last night I mentioned to to kids that they should leave a treat for "Santa", meaning Lee. Clark said, why should I do that, he's not real. I told him that Dad would like a treat while he was setting out presents. I told him that a few years ago my sister Lois left Santa a nice piece of cheese and she got a digital camera for Christmas. The next morning my dad said to Lois, "Behold, the power of cheese!". I love Haley's writing on the card for "Santa".
Last year all the kids slept in Shanna/Haley/Elden's room. We did that again this year, and I think we will do that every year. When the kids presents came in the mail (we bought almost everything from Amazon, and I loved it!) we just hid them. I thought about wrapping them about a week ago and I decided to just wait until Christmas Eve. We don't get our kids a lot of presents, so it was easy to do. We watched A Christmas Carol, starring Patrick Stewart (my favorite version!) while we wrapped their presents. After setting everything up for Christmas morning, we were off to bed...Christmas morning actually.
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