8 a.m. I woke up. Dan was getting reading for work and the kids were still asleep. Hooray for waking up with no alarm and hooray for no early morning Seminary!
9 a.m. I worked on Primary stuff until it gave me a headache, and then turned my attention to putting together a shopping list for Christmas Eve dinner (which would also be Christmas Day dinner, as I have a rule that I don't cook or clean anything on Christmas). I had planned to gather the supplies for dinner earlier in the week, but in the 3 days before Christmas Eve we unexpectedly watched a friend's disabled 4-year-old for two days while they flew to SLC for a funeral (this required sticking to a strict medication and feeding tube schedule and me sleeping at their house at night) and all four of the Kartchner kids stayed overnight at our house while their parents were out of town. So it was that I was that I didn't get around to thinking about Christmas Eve until that very day.
10 a.m. Armed with a detailed list, I drove to Fred Meyer. I chose this grocery store because it tends to be the one in our area with the best customer service, and the lines move quickly. I guessed that there might be other last-minute shoppers like me.
10:15 a.m. Still driving around the parking lot at Fred Meyer looking for a spot. Apparently all of Vancouver was shopping at that very moment. Finally I parked about a mile away and sloshed through the puddles and the torrential rain.
10:20 a.m. Inside the store, I realized that I had made a terrible mistake. We should have just eaten cold cereal for Christmas. The store was packed, and I could hardly push a cart through the aisles. I struggled to gather the items we needed for our Christmas Eve dinner (and forgot one crucial item) and then tried to find a checkout line which would allow me to be home before New Years. The lines stretched down the aisles, halfway to the back of the store!
10:45 a.m. I became fast friends with all the people around me, who were similarly trapped in a Christmas Eve retail nightmare. Finally at the cashier, I noticed she looked upset and teary. I asked her if she was OK, and she told me her 20-year-old daughter had experienced her first seizure the day before, they didn't know yet why she had seized, and the daughter was home alone because Mom had to work two different jobs on Christmas Eve. I was sufficiently humbled to remember that there are much more difficult things than waiting in line at the grocery store.
11:30 a.m. I dragged the bags into the house and found that my children were up and eating breakfast, just in time for lunch. Aubrey's friend had spent the night, and they reminded me that they wanted to decorate sugar cookies before she left. I whimpered a little at the thought of doing more baking (after our baking marathon the Sunday previous), but then someone remembered that friends had dropped of sugar cookie dough as a truly inspired neighbor gift. We pulled that out of the freezer and accomplished this very important sugar cookie tradition at almost the last minute.
12:30 p.m. We started preparations for our dinner, which was epic. Knock-off Cafe-Rio with all the fixins': shredded pork, Cafe Rio black beans and pinto beans, lime cilantro rice, homemade verde enchilada sauce, creamy tomatillo dressing. This cooking took hours. And hours. And hours. I was putting the finishing touches on it just before we ate at 5:30. I had some help while cooking, and we watched one Christmas special or Hallmark Christmas movie after another. Good times. After a week of significant squabbling between some family members, it was a relief to have some peace on earth.
5:30 p.m. Dan was home from work and took the lead on setting the dining room table with our fancy dishes. We had decided that it was important that everyone have something they liked on the table for Christmas Eve, so Dan ran out to Dominos to pick up a pizza for Joseph. We enjoyed a scrumptdillyicious dinner and ate until we could pop.
6:30 p.m. Joseph was bouncing with excitement like a Mexican jumping bean. We cleared the table and washed the dishes so that the kitchen would be clean for Christmas morning.
7:00 p.m. Then we gathered in the living room for our sibling gift exchange. Brandon and Angela had sent very thoughtful books for everyone, Joseph wrote his siblings a nice note, Bailey wrote notes which included an IOU for an outing with her while she is home, and Aubrey gave her gifts (an adult coloring book for Bailey and her old IPOD TOUCH for Joseph. To say he was thrilled would be a massive understatement!)
7:30 p.m. Everyone scattered to dress in their nativity pageant costumes. Bailey was Mary, Joseph was Joseph and a shepherd, and Aubrey was an angel and a wisewoman. Dan read the Christmas story and I was the videographer.
8:00 p.m. The kids each opened their Christmas Eve gift - new pjs and a new Christmas book - The Mansion. I gave Dan a special Christmas Eve gift - a picture book about how Dickens wrote The Christmas Carol (his favorite).
8:15 p.m. Everyone wrote their letters to Santa Claus and set out their stockings. Then they ran upstairs to set up the bonus room with mattresses and bedding for the traditional sibling Christmas Eve sleepover.
8:40 p.m. Kids started watching The Grinch and the Year Without a Santa Claus while Dan and I were Santa's helpers.
12:30 p.m. Dan and I were still going. What was taking us so long? I have no idea. We had very little to wrap and nothing to put together! The kids were still up.
1:00 a.m. We parents passed out
6:00 a.m. Joseph woke up and couldn't go back to sleep.
6:45 a.m. Aubrey and Joseph cajoled Bailey awake
7:00 a.m. All three kids came in to wake us up.
7:02 a.m. Downstairs to see what Santa brought!
After a fun morning of opening gifts, we made crepes, sausages, bacon, and Jamba juice, and then everyone either played with new toys, read new books, or took a nap!
Ok, now here's some pictures.
Decorating Christmas cookies Christmas Eve morning
Posing in a selfie with the books Brandon and Angela sent to us.
Christmas Eve Nativity Play
Posing in new PJs.
Letters to and from Santa
The living room after Santa visited
Christmas morning, oh so early.
Getting ready to take turns opening gifts
Posing with gifts before beginning Christmas Day relaxation.
Christmas morning breakfast!
Playing with the new Wii U and our new Disney trivia board game, which was surprisingly difficult and fun!
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