Christmas

Here's how we celebrated our Savior's birth:

Christmas Eve, Ryan (sound guy) and Emma (children's choir) both had to be at church at 10. Lila and I went up around 12 to see Emma practice and save seats for some neighbors that were coming. The service was beautiful! My dad led music and the kids sang so sweetly. Marty's message reminded us that for many people, church on 12/24 is just one of the many stops for the holiday before you're on to the next activity. The church service should BE our focus for the holiday. Coming to worship our King and celebrate His birth - that IS the whole point. I've always loved Christmas Eve church, and that's why. I get lost in the festivities once I'm home and the kids are opening gifts, but at church I can focus on the magnitude of God's gift to us and worship.

I brought Emma home with me after she sang at the 3:00 service. Ryan called around 4:30 to tell me that he was at church without a car.There had been some miscommunication in my family about who was riding home with whom. So, Bec and Chris picked him up since they're the closest to church.

We went to Mom and Dad's for dinner - delicious! The girls got to open their presents from my family after dinner to save some chaos in the morning. Everyone got new jammies thanks to Mom. The girls were excited about Santa, so we hurried home and set out cookies and a carrot for the reindeer. Lila slept with Emma because she scared of Santa being in the house while she was asleep - understandable. Emma drove us crazy waking us several times in the middle of the night to tell us she couldn't go back to sleep. I remember doing the same thing!

We had a wonderful morning staring at 7:30. Family came over, we had breakfast, opened presents, and enjoyed our time together. Lila got books, a princess "laptop", "big, big, big Cinnerella", Mr. Potato Head, and a beautiful doll that she wants nothing to do with. Emma got American Girl stuff, games, books, Little House on the Prairie DVD (I'm reliving my youth), and a kid's digital camera.

Ryan and I sat back, took a brief deep breath and enjoyed our children.

Then we frantically finished packing, fought with Lila about taking a nap, and tried to fit new fun stuff in the carry ons. We left around 2:30 for the airport to go visit Ryan's family WA.

Flying on Christmas Day is actually pretty nice. No lines or crowds, extra seats in our row, Burger King for Christmas lunch. There was, however a bit of snow in Minneapolis that slowed us down for a couple of hours, but we landed in Spokane minutes before midnight local time (that's 3 am NJ time, mind you). The girls were sleepy, but so excited to see Gramma and Papa! We made it to their snowy gorgeous home and slept for a few hours before we got up and had Christmas morning all over again - this time with cousins Logan and Michael too!

What a great Christmas!