Christmas Eve

When I was in high school, I made two or three gingerbread houses completely from scratch from designs and recipes I found in Good Housekeeping. Well, last year we made our first one, but I bought a kit! I don't have the energy or time I had when I was a teenager. The kids loved it, and Chase begged for another kit this year. She was somewhat disappointed, because this kit came with the house already put together. She did a fine job decorating it by herself, though.

Greg got home around 2:30 today. We had to have Chase at Cornerstone (a church in our town) by 5:25. She was singing carols with some of the girls from her choir outside the building, so people would be serenaded as they came in. The service was great. This sweet little 6-year-old girl sang "Happy Birthday, Jesus". A TON of people from the church did the cardboard testimonies thing (you may have seen it on You Tube). It was so moving. We saw some friends we hadn't seen in a long time, and it was so good to catch up. We stood around and talked way too long after the service.

We always have take-out Chinese food on Christmas Eve. Since the service was supposed to be over by 7:00, we decided to eat after the service. Well, it was past 8:00 before we got to eat. The food was inhaled quickly!

After eating, we did the last devotion from our Advent reader and opened the Christmas Eve gifts. This year I did something different. I put false names on the kids presents. I got this idea from someone on my homeschool e-mail loop and used it to discourage the kids from shaking presents and trying to find out what they were getting. I assigned each child a name from our favorite series of Advent readers. I used one girl's name and three boys' names. Just to throw them off, I gave the girl's name to Landon--Tabitha. Gerren was Nathan, Chase was Jotham, and Carys was Bartholomew.

So, last night, I put the four gifts in the middle of the floor and told Landon to choose the gift he thought belonged to him. Gerren chose next, then Chase. Carys got the one that was left. Then they told me which name they had chosen. I informed them that only one person had the right gift. Then, they got to swap. Chase was sure she had the right gift, so she kept her original choice. Again, only one person had the right gift. So, now they were pretty sure they knew who was who. They swapped one more time, and sure enough, they got it right! It was really fun. This morning, they got all the presents with their fake names!

Something really cracked Gerren up! His feet have grown so much in the past two months that the slippers I bought him are too small. Back they go!

We also had a birthday cake for Jesus. It was the first time we'd done that in awhile, but I thought Carys would enjoy it. Landon said we should put a number 8 candle on it and turn it on it's side. Infinity--get it? He's so clever. I laughed. A joke only a math person would get and find funny.