Christmas Favorites - Christmas Eve

I'm feeling all sorts of things tonight on this third day after Christmas.  A usual mix of overwhelmed as I look around at the aftermath of a whirlwind week of six family Christmases, motivation to purge, sort, and reorganize after lots of new things were opened and loved, anticipation as I look ahead to a new year with lots to look forward to, and most importantly, lots of joy as I sift through pictures and feel so grateful for another Christmas filled with so much love.  It was Mila's first one, a unique one with no home of our own to rekindle my favorite traditions in, and as crazy as it felt at times with six of us under one roof, I'm confident I will look back and recall this one with a big smile on my face.  Grandma and Papa had a front row seat to all the action this year and it was special to share those moments with them.  As I was filling stockings and arranging Santa presents just so under their Christmas tree late Christmas Eve night, Mom laughed and said Santa hasn't visited her house for years.  I'm sure she was reliving old days of doing the same, of tucking us in under twinkling lights, reading about Mary, Joseph, and a manger, and remembering that once-a-year magic you feel as a parent to kids on Christmas Eve.  There's just nothing like it.

Our magic began on Christmas Eve night when I got Cruz and Mila ready for my favorite church service of the year.  We had good baths and long afternoon naps and I carefully dressed them in new outfits.  With my own memories of wearing a brand new Christmas dress on Christmas Eve night every year growing up, I had been waiting all year to find just the one for Mila's first Christmas.  I found one that looked just like her - a soft gray sleeveless dress with eyelet lace lining the bottom, cream ruffly tights and a sweet cream sweater with pearl buttons to go over top.  It fit her to a tee and she looked sweeter than she ever has before.  She stood up on her tippy toes on my parents' window seat with the Christmas tree in the background and I swear I could have stared at her face for hours.

  

Cruz looked equally handsome in his khaki cords and chambray button down and was so sweet before church, loving on Mila and getting a little too excited about opening his first gift, one he wasn't supposed to open until my parents' Christmas on Friday!  But Cruz really stole my heart at the candlelight service that night.  He was so excited to hold his own candle and he took that responsibility quite seriously.  He clutched that candle through the entire service and waited patiently for the big moment.  I loved watching his face light up when he finally got to light his candle, how he tried to mimic the words to Silent Night, and how he watched the videos and listened to the music so intently.  It was the first year he seemed to understand the special meaning of Christmas and I swear I could have stared at his sweet face for hours. 

After another gorgeous service, we drove back to Allison for Christmas Eve festivities.  We dunked big hunks of bread into bowls of hearty zuppa toscana and topped it off with slices of melt-in-your-mouth French silk pie.  Cruz and I sprinkled reindeer food on the driveway, set out a plate of Great Grandma's famous sugar cookies for Santa, and he and Mila opened up their traditional gift of a new pair of jammies and a new book before bed.  They each received the most sophisticated pair of flannel professor jammies and Cruz said they were just like the boy on the Polar Express.  After tucking them in bed, we drank red wine and got to work as little elves do while Jimmy Stewart played in the background.

More pictures of our Christmas Eve...

One more sleep! 
 

51/52

"a portrait of each of my children, once each week, in 2014"

  

Cruz: This boy was so fun for Christmas this year, getting so excited about everything, yet still so content with the smallest and simplest of things.  He loved the candlelight service and took holding his candle very seriously.  He clutched it with all his might refused to let it go the entire service.  He loved his Christmas Eve pjs and Rudolph book, but his Transformers Rescue Bots were his absolute fave.  

Mila: It was little girl's first Christmas and boy did she look pretty all dressed up for Christmas Eve.  I have never had so much fun getting her all fixed up.  She looked like a doll in her ruffle tights, eyelet gray dress, and fur old lady coat.  She was anything but peaceful during the candlelight service, didn't sleep worth a toot on Christmas Eve, but I won't ever forget her turning up the music to Rocking Around the Christmas Tree in her little professor pajamas, dancing like the queen she is.  

      

Merry Christmas 2014

"These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full."

John 15:11

Wishing all of you many opportunities to pause, pray, and find much joy this Christmas.  Joy to the world, for HE has come.  

Our 2014 Christmas card.  It was a big year.
 

Favorite Christmas Memories

I was wrapping teacher gifts at the kitchen table the other night when I heard Cruz and Beau talking.  I don't remember how the conversation started, but the words "Glory to God in the highest" from my four year old sparked my attention.  Cruz wanted to play the Christmas story with Beau and while he was decreeing that Mr. Potato head would be a great "Jo-fess" and Boone dangling from the ceiling fan would make a great Christmas star, I was astonished at the details he was able to recall from the gospel.  He told us about the bad king who wanted Baby Jesus to die, about the bright star that scared the shepherds until the angels said, "Do not be afraid," and about the kind man who said he was out of hotel rooms but told Mary and Joseph, "you are welcome to stay in my stable."  Beau kept asking him questions and Cruz kept going, impressing us with his detail and reminding us how blessed we are with a Christian daycare who helps raise our littles in a foundation of faith and belief in Jesus.  But most of all, I sat there feeling a little rotten about myself, silently praising God for his wisdom through the eyes of my four year old.  If only we really did believe like children, Christmas might look so much different.  

This year has been hard.  It's been full of blessings, but not without battles.  It's been too hard and too fast and too much and it's left me stretched and spent.  But it feels like Christmas when I sit a room away and listen to my little boy tell his dad all about the night Jesus was born. 

We tried to get Cruz's story recorded later, but he was a little distracted with the three Oreos he was eating!

   
Oh, and Beau was right on his wise men knowledge.  I had forgotten about the dream. :)

More of my favorite Christmas memories from this week...

A Christmas movie night.  Because movies just feel a little more magical when you're sprawled out under the Christmas tree lights.  We moved the coffee table at Mom and Dad's, spread out blankets and pillows and sleeping bags in its place, and Cruz and Mila immediately got excited.  They started rolling around the blankets and crawling over one another until the movie started.  Then, the night was made with popcorn, and Arthur Christmas, and Papa Curt, of course.

  

 

All of Cruz's Santa letters.  It's become a nightly ritual.  Amidst the chaos of cooking dinner, unloading school bags, and sifting through Christmas cards, Cruz is usually right in the middle requesting some paper and markers.  Then he gets to work, writing letters with squiggly, multi-colored markers and signing an ever improving 'CRUZ' at the bottom.  They are pretty and Cruz is very proud of them; that is, until one of the markers wears out and he frustratingly declares "IT'S WUINED" over and over again.  Poor little perfectionist, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.  

I used the Portable North Pole site again this year and sat Boone up by my computer screen one morning to present it to Cruz.  If you haven't used this site before, I highly recommend it.  You can create free, personalized messages from Santa to your little believer that includes their name, a picture of them, and a picture of something they would love to find under the tree.  I wish I had a recording of Cruz's face the morning he watched his message from Santa.  The minute Santa said in his burly voice, "Why, hello Cruz," his eyes lit up only the way a child's can (unless you're Papa Curt who's a little behind the times of modern technology).  He listened so closely to every word, smiled and nodded so sweetly when Santa asked if he has been good, and sat on pins and needles as he waited for the elves to see if he's on the nice list.  It was adorable to watch and I'm sure I won't ever forget Cruz announcing "HE KNOWS MY NAME!" afterwards.

And this girl.  She's into everything right now, but she's sweet as pie and looks so stinking cute in her footie pajamas and winter dresses.  She opened up her very first present at the Sanders' Christmas on Saturday and loved her Cabbage Patch doll.  We had two Christmases back to back and she was such a trooper.  Her favorite part is not the presents, but the food.  She sat in two very old highchairs at both places, and sampled a variety of things, including a sugar cookie to which she inhaled. :)

Pictures from our first round of Christmases...

Merry Christmas week to all!