Christmas Eve

Buck headed to work early on Christmas Eve. After taking care of some last minute wrapping and other pre-Christmas to-do list items (like ordering dinner way in advance), the Crew and I settled in to watch our church's Christmas Eve service stream. Caelan and Gabby were part of the worship team, all filmed in separate segments and spliced together with digital magic. Caelan played keys, Gabby rocked the bass (and looked Christmassy while doing it), and at home the Crew improvised the candlelight suggestion during Silent Night (my sister's oven light, may have our creativity beat :).

But we tend to be over-achievers, so one Christmas Eve service wasn't enough for us! Lol :) We really wanted to be in person, singing carols, seeing faces, connecting with God's people on Christmas Eve. Our NGFs have decided they want this too, and are now attending a church that didn't take a covid break. It is near their home and they'll still come to our youth group . . . so, anyway, we joined them for their Christmas Eve service at their church. There was a bonus surprise as the boys' twin buddies also are attending that church now, and G$ got to sit with Isaiah during the service. Lovely candlelight photos courtesy my NGF, of course :)

After church, we joined our NGFs in their annual Christmas Eve tradition--ordering take-out Chinese food to eat at home. My NGF puts the beauty into every occasion; I admire her comfortable elegance. Who knew paper plates and napkins could seamlessly accentuate such a lovely display? With a cupful of chopsticks in the middle, so pretty! And the food was delicious! It has been a long time since we've eaten take-out Chinese. We called at lunchtime for a 7:30 pm pick-up and I'm glad we did. It was one of the only restaurants open that late on Christmas Eve and they had more than a dozen big orders when we called ours in. My NGF said last year she waited over an hour, this year it was just minutes.

Buck was able to join us just before dinner, and we spent the next few hours visiting with our friends. We've never spent a Christmas Eve like this before, but it was really wonderful! And we even convinced the oldests to take pictures of the grown-ups, aww, we exist! We did make them take about 50 before we approved of one, but I'd say it turned out pretty nicely. We're thankful for this family!

And of course, upon returning home, we sent the kids to bed early (like 11:45) so we could put the finishing touches on the morning celebration. Presents piled, bank envelopes and Christmas cards in the tree, stockings stuffed, and cinnamon rolls rising on the stove . . . ahh, Christmas Eve.