Christmas Eve
Not many Christmases are like this.* This year's Christmas eve was special. First of all, it was a Sunday so that gave us an extra day off from all the busy-ness of Christmas shopping and preparation. Church in the morning gave us a chance to sing Christmas songs with our neighbors. It was nice and quiet the rest of the day as we enjoyed time with the girls.
I made a special lunch/dinner for Carol and the girls as part of my Christmas present. A flu bug I caught Friday mostly kept me in bed that afternoon but the evening was wonderful. We read and acted out the Christmas story from Luke 2 :) I was Joseph, Gracia was Mary (and the angel), Mila was baby Jesus and Mom was narrator. We've read it before a few times so the girls knew what to do. It was fun. We talked about what Christmas means and how the different Christmas decorations symbolized Christ. The girls were patient enough to listen.
Then, our bedtime story was "A Christmas Dress for Ellen," a kid's Christmas story retold by Thomas S. Monson. It's a beautiful, touching story that I highly recommend. After the story, the girls got treats and a glass of milk for Santa. Gracia and Mila each wrote a note for him. While Mila was getting ready for bed, she realized what tomorrow really was and she squealed in excitement. We were all laughing at how excited she was. Christmas was about to come.
* Christmas Eve and Day are usually spent with our families but this year we could not join them in California or here in Utah. We were sad to miss all the festivities but it was also nice to just be in our home.
