Christmas Eve 2014

First of all, the day after my parents' arrival was so deliciously relaxing and different from the norm. Doug had to work, but my parents and I and the boys, just enjoyed being together, around the house and not really having a long list of to-do's.  It was fantastic.  Christmas Eve was much busier, but after the restful day before, we had the energy for it and wouldn't have wanted to miss any of it, it was a great day.  

In the AM, before the Christmas Eve service at 11am, we prepared for the ham luncheon we'd be serving after church for our family as well as the Troxells (Uncle Nate, Aunt Megan and kids).  We also got all ready for church.  The boys love to dress up like Daddy and this service, Koen had the special job of reading Scripture for Doug in his sermon, so he especially was dead set on looking very handsome.  Here's my handsome, happy crew with Gramma and Grampa at our departure for the service.   I included two of the several shots.  It's not easy getting 3 excited boys to smile at the same time!

The service was beautiful.  It was one of the highlights of my Christmas holiday for sure.  So honoring, so joyful and just lovely.  I'm sure since I'm the Pastor's wife, this seems bias, but if you had been there, I think you would've agreed.  I wish I could post a link to the whole service here.  It was great.  The boys all stayed up into Doug's sermon (although Penn did go down to play in nursery for the majority of the sermon), but Koen listened attentively to his Daddy.  And Tav was just happy to be sitting between Grampa and Koen, that he was content to be upstairs.  There was a kids moment in the beginning of the sermon that Tavin and Koen both enjoyed being a part of (I got this pic from someone else, I wasn't that Pastor's wife that took pictures of her husband preaching, don't worry).

Koen did a lovely job reading the Scripture.  I was so impressed with his confidence to stand up and speak in front of everyone.  Again, this pic is from a friend (I didn't want to embarrass Koen and take one myself!).

After the beautiful service, we gave Christmas hugs to lots of friends as we exited and then headed home for our yummy lunch and relaxing time with friends and family.  This is becoming a fun tradition for both us and the Troxells and I look forward to keeping it going too.  Here's a picture of Doug relaxing with Tav and Koen after the meal.  It's so nice Doug gets to come home in between the two Christmas Eve services to be with us.

We had a little gift exchange between the boys.  The Troxells always get our boys the most beautiful and creative books.  This year Koen got one that sort of leads him through how to write his own fictional story about himself.  He's excited to dive into it (even started some of the activities that afternoon).

Tav was very interested in what Alex got from us...a periscope for spying.  Don't worry, Koen and Tav got their own periscopes in their stockings the next day.  But it was fun to see how interested they were in the toy beforehand (sorry about the little trick, boys!).

The Troxells left around 3pm.  Doug and Koen went back to church a little before 4pm to prepare for the 5pm service.  That left Tavin here to hang out with Gramma, Grampa and I (Penn was taking a long, hard nap!).  Tavin has been waiting since Gramma's mid-November trip to play more of the game, "Sorry!" with her, so they got right to it.

Koen was apparently amazing at church that evening with Doug.  He helped set up for the service, then he handed out notes as people came in.  Then he again did his Scripture reading and sat through the whole service and then at the end he helped pass out the gift to the kids and recollect the candles.  Great job, Koen!  I know you made your Dad very proud and were such an encouragement to him during his holiday work day.  By the time Koen got home, it was time for the boys to eat their dinner.  Then we had some fun catching up on Christmas books.  We are a little behind getting through all the books I wrapped, so all 3 boys got to open one on Christmas Eve.  It was a sweet time of reading (even if they were a little long and the boys got to bed a little later than anticipated).

After the boys in bed, it was Santa's workshop in the living room.  I had wrapped my parents' presents before they arrived, but had saved the boys for closer to Christmas to keep the boys from guessing/shaking/ruining the surprise of it all!  Tuesday night I had finished most of their gifts, but Christmas Eve was the final crunch time and I got through the rest of the presents and the stocking stuffers (just a few things for each).  Dad and Doug had all their wrapping to do as well, so they were also busy!  It was a fun night of anticipation, even if it was exhausting!  I always put off going to bed on special nights like this though, I just don't like to see Christmas rush away, I love to savor every moment.  But there's a point where a pregnant momma of 3 boys, soon to be 4, has to quit and get some sleep!