Christmas Eve

It was a wonderful day!  We spent the day at home and it was so nice to be together with nothing to rush off to or prepare for.  We had already decided that we would have our Christmas today and just spend the day taking our time opening gifts and trying them out.  We started at about 8 am this morning and finished opening gifts at about 5.  It could've lasted much longer.   We were rushing the kids through there at the end.  We were getting hungry and I wanted to make it to a Christmas Eve service after dinner.  Everyone loved their gifts and got a good lesson in giving as well.  Hannah had money to spend this year and she bought Grace and Joe both pretty nice gifts.  She had all but come right out and told Joe what she had gotten him so he was pretty sure he knew.  That was the first gift opened and he loved it.  It was a set of Star Wars guys.  The big deal was that it had a Princess Leia.  She had picked out a Soda Pop girl for Grace and it was well received also.  Hannah made the comment that she was more excited to see Joe open his gifts than she was to open her own.  That is the great thing about giving and I'm glad she is learning it at a young age.  Grace also got to pick out gifts to be from her.  She didn't have the money that Hannah had but I helped her out a little.  Last night Joe and I walked up to the convenience store to do his Christmas shopping.  He got each of his sisters a pack of gum and his daddy a bag of pistachios.  He was thrilled for them to open his presents.  It was cute.  He also wanted to get me a present and Ollie asked him what he wanted to get me since he had to go do a little shopping himself.  He told Ollie that he wanted to get me tomatoes and eggs.  Not sure where he came up with that.  Well, instead of tomatoes and eggs Ollie and Joe went in together to get me a gift.  I got a new dryer!  I never thought that I could get so excited about a dryer!  This one will dry huge loads which is great because I got a new washer last spring that can wash huge loads.  So, we all opened gifts and played with gifts all day.  I made a big breakfast and shepherd's pie for dinner.  Grace asked if we were having shepherd's pie in honor of the shepherd's out in the field on the night Jesus was born.  We said yes.  :0)
The girls and I went to a candlelight service at the local Methodist church.  It really reminded me of Christmases long ago...I spent many a Christmas eve at a candlelight service in a Methodist church.  I am thankful for my non-traditional church but for tonight I fully enjoyed having a hymn book, singing the first-second-and fifth verses, hearing a topical teaching, lighting my candle, and watching my little girls just sit and stare at their candle and the others around them.  I'll post some pictures if I get a chance.