Christmas Eve

I had a great big list of things to accomplish yesterday that would make today so much easier. Unfortunately, very few of them actually happened yesterday! I managed to boil the eggs for the pea salad and deviled eggs (quite an accomplishment, I know) and make Christmas cookies. But truthfully, Katie did most of the work on them!

We headed into town early because James had an Olive Garden gift card that he was itchin' to use. Yum. It's been a few months since we've been there, so it tasted extra good. Enjoyed a good church service and some bonus fellowship time with Sister Galaviz. :-) We came home from church and I got busy doing all of the things I had planned on getting done during the day--made an apple pie, clam chowder, pea salad, and deviled eggs. It felt good to finally mark a few things off the list!

This morning we had cookies for breakfast because it's Christmas Eve and it just seemed like the thing to do. :-) I took a shower, then trimmed the boys' hair (just where it was hanging down over their ears--I HATE that!) and Kate's bangs. I ran one last load of laundry, then did the ironing (on Christmas Eve?! What is wrong with me?!?!?) and made a cherry cobbler before we cleared out ALL of the left-overs (wa-hoo!) for lunch. Then it was time to start on dinner. But before I go on...

A great big thank you to the best and wisest sister-in-law of all time, Emilee Smith!!!!

She has just totally revolutionized my holiday and I love her dearly for it! I've always been very staunch about keeping traditions and, for the most part, I still am. I love traditions. :-) But it does tend to make you a little inflexible and you can end up living in a rut without realizing that a new tradition might be much better than an old one. I heard that last year Emilee made their Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve instead of Christmas Day... and the more I thought about it the more I realized what a truly grand and glorious idea it was!!! We always have clam chowder for our Christmas Eve meal, then get up way early on Christmas morning, open presents, help the kids with whatever toy/battery/assembly help they may need, head to the kitchen to start on Christmas dinner, work throughout the morning, have an early afternoon meal, then spend way too much time cleaning it up, then you're desperate for a nap--and sometimes it's too late to take one! It's always been fun, of course, but so exhausting! Why not have your big dinner on Christmas Eve, get it cleaned up and enjoy the rest of the night, get up Christmas morning, open presents, then ENJOY THE REST OF THE DAY without spending 6 hours in the kitchen!!! It's inspired, I tell you. :-) Have clam chowder for lunch and left-overs from the night before for dinner. It's fantastic! THANK YOU, EMILEE!!!!!! :-)

ANYWAY...

On to the pictures. This was actually taken a few days ago. James needed a picture of the kids so he could order a photo mug for his Mom for her birthday next week. ~sigh~ I have such good looking kids. :-) As a side note, we uploaded the photo to Walmart.com, placed our order, and about two hours later we got an e-mail saying it had been SHIPPED!!! Whoa! Talk about efficient! Ah, yes. I'll warn you now. Get ready for more Charlie overload. I just can't help it. We don't have any babies to take pictures of anymore, you know?! He's the little one, the new one, and the one who's always doing something adorable or crazy, so he's the one who gets pictures taken all the time! Here he is playing in the laundry basket. Don't be fooled--he's actually enjoying himself immensely.
Ah, yes. Had to post this picture. I found this note in my pantry when I went to start dinner this afternoon. Can anybody say MICRO-MANAGER!!!!!! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! That man. GET OUT OF MY KITCHEN, JAMES!!! Don't you have a shed or something to tend to?!?!? ;-)
Katie took this picture as we were trying to transfer the ham to the platter. We don't get many pictures of the two of us together, so I thought I should post it. :-)
And here is Christmas Dinner. On Christmas Eve!!!! What an epiphany! :-)
If you're wondering about Sam's blanket, he's still a little under the weather. Hasn't been SICK today, but hasn't been totally well either. Mostly he's just lethargic. He has had the energy, however, to ask about 30 times, "Mom, how long 'til bedtime?" Ha! He's been dying to go to bed so he could get up and open presents. :-)

Charlie was sooooo good and slept right through dinner with no begging at all. Even when he woke up he just laid there and looked cute for a while. He did have a few bites of ham, which made him a very, very happy puppy. :-)
As has become tradition around here (though I still maintain that it's a sin to open presents before Christmas morning, according to my upbringing--ha!), the kids opened their gifts from each other tonight. Sam got some little airplanes from Katie and a little video game thing from Joe. Sorry about the quality. Our camera usually does pretty well, but it's not as dependable as it used to be!
Here's Joe, acting surprised about the baseball that Katie got him. Ha! He saw her with it in the store when she bought it and has been dying to play with it since then.
And a battleship from Sam...
Katie was happy about the word search book from Sam and THRILLED with the little sewing kit from Joe.
James got a picture from Joe (of the two of them together) and some screwdrivers from Sam. Katie wanted her gift to be added to his stocking, so he'll get that in the morning.
Here's Charlie, chewing on my new favorite fuzzy socks. He seems to like them just as much as I do, but for totally different reasons.
So far he is loving Christmas. All sorts of excitement, and papers and boxes galore to chew on. He won't know what to do with himself come morning!

Charlie was in desperate need of a bath, so I did that real quick before we started our traditional Christmas Eve movie, It's a Wonderful Life. Giving him a bath and blow drying him revealed just how desperately he's in need of another haircut! Ha! It's sort of like those little capsules that expand when you put them in water, you know?! When I got him dry and brushed out he was suddenly twice as big as he had been before--a massive fluffball! HA! Anyway, here are the kids watching the movie and Charlie chewing on Katie's braid, one of his favorite pastimes.
We read through the Christmas story and had a good devotion, then got all the kids bedded down in the living room. Fun. :-) It took them quite a while to wind down, of course. Especially with a hyper dog chewing on them.
James likes to hold Charlie like this and say, "Awwwwww, look at the little baby..." I had to share that for a certain someone's benefit. I'm sure he's throwing up now. HA!

Tonight was a big night in Charlie's life. It was his first time ever to get the rips!!! Ha! I LOVE THAT!!! You know, when a dog gets super excited and just starts tearing through the house full speed, back and forth--it's hilarious! Hershey used to include lots of jumping and bounding. I remember him bouncing off the back of the couch on his route! Ha! Anyway, Charlie got all worked up and slipped and slid all over the tile and wood floors, zipping from one end of the house to the other for several minutes tonight, making us all laugh heartily. :-) ~sigh~ It's so nice having a dog again. They add so much to your family! So, so fun. Especially at Christmas. :-)

Well, it looks like all of the kids are finally conked out, so it must be time to fill some stockings. :-) I love Christmas!!! Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night! :-)