It's Almost Christmas, Charlie!

That's a line from one of my FAVORITE Christmas movies ever - "The Greatest Christmas Pageant Ever." My sisters and I watched it every year - love it! Anyways, Christmas Eve was a fun filled day. The kids were all getting VERY excited, and I must admit - it was SO nice knowing that we weren't travelling or going anywhere quite yet! I spent the morning doing my long run (10 miles!), and the boys spent the morning working on their gingerbread house!

Jacob took these pictures of their handiwork....

Then we all got dressed to head to church for the Christmas Eve service. It was a beautiful service with communion and was VERY worshipful. David and Pastor Rocky did a great job putting together a service that really focused on the Birth of Christ and what that means for us. It was much more than just standing and singing 5 or 6 Christmas carols. Really special. And then once it was done, we finally felt like we had made it through and were on vacation! :) We went downtown to the drive-through Christmas lights (you know the kind - every city has something like it I'm sure. Drive through a couple of miles of Christmas lights displays). It was great. The kids love getting unbuckled and watching the lights as we drive through them all.

After we got home, we have a tradition where everyone gets to open one present. It's a specific present - everyone gets new pjs to wear! I don't think the kids have caught on to that fact yet :). We all changed into our new jammies, got the kids in bed, filled stockings, and wondered how early our morning would start the next day? :)