Christmas Eve

We went back and forth as to whether or not to invite anyone over for Christmas Eve, but decided that we probably still had a few bugs around that we didn't want to expose anyone else too. Spense went out early in the day to pick up the food. It took much longer than I expected. I think that the many phone calls that he makes with questions and just wandering around the store browsing really make a difference. When he got back I left to find a few last things. The roads were still pretty awful, but there were lots of people out. I guess that everyone figured that it was crunch time and they finally had to get out there.

The year before last we decided to have a fondue on Christmas Eve and we enjoyed it so much we thought that we would make a thing out of it. I love that the preparation and clean up are relatively simple and so you get more time to focus on being together. As I cut up cheese, bread, and meat the kids and Spenser went through the closets finding costumes for the nativity later that evening. It ended up that the Star Wars halloween costumes really turned out to be a good purchase. Who would have thought that Luke Skywalker could be turned into Joseph with the simple addition of a towel?!

Stirring the cheese

Getting the cheese onto the bread is serious business

Zach loved the skewers. We didn't think that it was terribly
safe, but after trying several alternatives resulted in high pitched
screaming we finally broke down and he did just fine.

Olivia wouldn't even try the cheese. She just stuck the bread
on the end of her skewer, which made her happy enough.

Everyone loved the chocolate fountain. I think
that I had the best face! There were some
chocolate covered shirts when we were all done.

Zach really got into it.

The nativity was fun. Olivia really got into caring for the baby Jesus, which was a huge improvement on last year when Thomas had to keep telling her off for not treating him properly. Our shepherd didn't seem to be too bothered by the good news, but it was so nice to see them all participating. The performance of our one wise man was outstanding and of course the angel was exquisite!

Mary, Joseph, and the baby Jesus

The entire cast.



Here is a short excerpt from our nativity.

After opening the traditional one gift of pj's we suddenly realized how late it had got. We quickly scooped up some pre-made cookie dough for Santa (no homemade stuff for our guy this year!), poured a glass of milk, sprinkled the reindeer food, hung the stockings, and got off to bed. Thomas was warned that if he woke up before anyone else he was not allowed to go downstairs alone. Unfortunately, he has had some discussion with us to whether or not Santa is real. A lot of hos friends already have been telling him that he's not (sad!). I think that we were convincing, but maybe only for this year I'm not sure. Oh, the lost innocence!

Reindeer food. Thomas was a little concerned
that there was glitter in it. He didn't think
that it would be good for their systems, but my
explanation was enough.

Stockings. Next year we will maybe have
a proper mantle. We've only been waiting a year!

Santa's cookies

Santa got a special plate this year.

After assembling a few little things we finally made it to bed, but not before Spense had set up a barricade at the top of the stairs.