Last night we made it to our church’s Christmas Eve service without any great delays or stresses.  The service was beautiful, and it was nice to cheerily call out “Merry Christmas” to our friends and family as we headed back to our van.

Once we got home, I told the children they could dig into their gingerbread houses.  With great delight, the houses were retrieved and the children started picking the candies off.  But after sitting for a couple of weeks in the open air, the candy, the icing and the gingerbread is almost as hard as a rock.  So the kids hammered and chiseled, grabbing knives and other tools, to break into their houses.  It kept them busy for quite some time.

We told them they could camp out in the living room if they wanted to, and Michael and I headed to bed, much more sleepy than the children.

This morning I woke up early with a tickle in my throat, so I got up to start the cinnamon rolls.  Thanks to my days and days of baking, with a less-than-enthusiastic kitchen elf on cleaning duty, the kitchen needed a bit of rescuing.  So I brewed some coffee and got busy.  Now, as I type this, the kitchen is clean, and the dough for the rolls is rising.  The children are slowly waking up and eager to start our Christmas festivities.

My biggest hope for this day is that we will be patient with one another and not ruin our wonderful day with squabbling and selfishness.  With everyone so excited and giddy, sometimes it’s hard to remember to behave.

Merry Christmas to you!  Oh, and if you want to see a cute Christmas song that really resonated with me, check out this link on YouTube.