a beautiful eve

it is never easy,
not being with family
at the holidays
but we make the best of it
and tonight, i think we succeeded!

we took the kids to church
for the children's nativity
there are no words
for how beautiful it was!
a narrator told the story
of mary and joseph
and between every few sentences
we sang a verse from some
christmas carols
while the child 'actors' moved around the church
just beautiful
the children's liturgy followed

once home, the kids got to tear into one present
{jammies, slippers and a new book}
okay, looks like three, but they were in one box!

we all gathered in the kitchen
to nosh on various food items,
which together do not constitute a real dinner
but it was our dinner,
and it was good!

then onto the lawn to sprinkle reindeer food
but not before setting out cookies and milk for the big man

the eve was topped off with my favorite,
which i have carried over from my parents:
we nestle into bed and daddy reads
twas the night before christmas

so the kiddos in bed
the baby gate,
yes baby gate,
is up in the hallway
{you see, the little big guy's love of santa only goes so far!}
he wants to make sure the big guy
doesn't come visit the bedrooms!

and we are relaxing,
waiting for the littles to sleep
so we can play santa!

merry christmas to all...
and to all a good night!

p.s. with my 100th post quickly approaching, look for a special post coming soon!