Christmas Eve

One of my very favoritest days of the entire year...Christmas Eve!  Its the day when I have to say "its enough" because I'm out of time.  Its the day when my family begins to gather and the anticipation builds.

After a quiet day of grocery shopping, changing sheets, making model airplanes, playing Monopoly and showers all around, we headed to church where there was standing room only and people were being turned away in the parking lot (including my brother's family :( ).

It was a beautiful service that always causes me to take a deep breath and think about that Silent Night...what it meant for the world, what it means for me still today.

 After all the traditional Christmas pictures we went to my sister's house where she hosted dinner for our entire family and her husband's family, who we count as ours...all total about 40 people!

I took a couple pictures before my fever got the best of me and I curled up on the couch with a blanket until we could leave.  Shaun, Aiden and I left early so Aiden and I could crash in bed while Shaun finished getting the house ready and welcomed our guests.

Not how I would have wanted it, but thankful for such a good man!

 My sister had the brilliant idea to feed the children first and then send them off to a Christmas movie while the adults ate  nice, quiet dinner.  The plan actually worked fairly well.