Christmas Eve 2014

I love it when it’s finally Christmas Eve.  There’s still some work to do, but we’re in go mode, no more thinking or planning or buying, just executing.  And there’s this thick excitement in the air, all day long.  It’s one of my favorite days of the year.

After a day of last minute wrapping (a photo shoot for twins who came at a very busy time…hopefully I’ll post those pics sometime) and final preparations we sat down to our Christmas Eve dinner.  This is Jeff’s favorite dinner of the year.  It was so fun to have Eli and Julie with us again (they came a few years ago), this time with baby Zara. 

We also had our good friend Donna join us.  I think this is the third year she’s spent Christmas Eve with us, and she’s so easy going and good to have around.  I’m not sure what she thinks of all the craziness oozing out of those excited kids, but she keeps coming back. 

After dinner we acted out the nativity.  Peter really watched in awe and pretty much got what was going on.  He played Joseph and took his part very seriously. 

Here’s the thirty second version of our nativity  ^^^

And after the nativity comes my favorite part of Christmas.  The kids give their gifts to each other.  We did this growing up, my parents separated the giving of gifts from the getting of gifts and I always enjoyed it, but now, as a parent I see the wisdom it in.  Everyone focuses on the person giving their gifts.  Jeff and I try to praise the heck out of the one whose turn it is to give.  There’s a slow pace to it and by the end the kids are beaming with the joy of giving.  I feel like that might just get swallowed up in the craziness of all the getting if we waited until Christmas morning.  It is glorious to see your kids feel the magic of making others happy.    Hazel and Charlie are big enough to give some real gifts.  They earn and save up money so that they can shower their siblings with things they know they’ll like.  Peter and Emmeline are only rich enough to afford the dollar store.  But boy do those little $1 gifts make everyone happy.        This year we’ve working hard on eating our greens and the kids thought that Santa might enjoy some salad after all those millions of cookies.   I love the way the living room looks at the end of the night.  Months of work right there, glowing in the light of the tree.  This is when I sigh a big sigh of relief.  Bed sure feels good on Christmas Eve!