Christmas Eve

Our Christmas Eve was pretty relaxed. I worked on making sourdough bread bowls here and there for our clam chowder. The bread bowls make the chowder extra special and tasty. Outside was relatively warm so the kids made a landing strip for Santa and his reindeer then played with the neighbors for quite some time. Phillip and Everett made an Elf obstacle course for Innej and Nitsuj. The kids cleaned up their bedrooms so Santa would not trip over dirty clothes or toys. Justin fried up bacon and spearheaded the clam chowder production. Josie was hungry so nursed while the potatoes boiled. Amelia set the table complete with name placards and candles. Our friend Jen showed up just as dinner finished up. Her tummy was not feeling so great, she left a little while later.

The kids chose costumes for the Nativity play. Phillip looked handsome as a gray donkey; Everett was Joseph then a wiseman, lastly a star; Evelyn was a star and some sort of princess; Amelia was Mary and a sheep; Josie tried to be a cute sheep but hated the knit balaclava, she was much happier as Mary. Justin read the account in Luke 2 out loud, nearly yelling, over the constant hum of everyone talking. We were in the middle of watching a Piano Guys rendition of Oh Holy Night when the Nelves rapped on the window, rang the bell, and rang the bell again. Soon jingles erupted from the Elf's bells. Out on the porch was a bag of gifts and some candy. Shredded wrapping paper filled the room and squeals of delight over their new PJs. Evelyn LOVED her elf jammies. Since my studio items were still set up I captured some Santa PJ pics of the kids. Realistically, I think pulling out my hair would have elicited better emotions than corralling 5 kids. Hey, its all real. The kids got a dose of melatonin then sent to bed.

Justin and I worked on getting our gifts out and under the tree. Justin partially assembled the new playhouse for Evelyn and Josie. I screwed all the parts together later the next day. We went to bed anxious for Santa to come and bring his magic to Christmas. I took a macro photo of our tree, during processing I noticed that one of Evelyn's applesauce lids was resting on a tree branch.