Christmas Eve Eve and Christmas Eve.

This is from Christmas Eve Eve Eve, but I can't not add it. Will's chubby little knees {that unfortunately cannot be seen here} just about did me in. Eddie HATES these kinds of clothes and you would never have seen James in knee socks, but I had to do it. I'm 99.9999999% sure Will won't be in John Johns next year, so I had to do it while I still could.

This post is really just for my own purposes of documenting our flying-by-at-the-speed-of-light-lives. I don't have many pictures of Christmas Eve so it's not going to be a ton of fun to read. I just want to write it all down so I can have it in our "journal" for the year.

Well. I just thought that moving closer to "home" would mean that we would be able to have more time to drag out our holidays. HA. We were busier than we've ever been on Christmas Eve.

Let's start first with Christmas Eve Eve. This was the night that I had my annual girls' dinner at Kate's, but earlier in the day before that the boys and I made our gingerbread houses and cookies for Santa. It wound up being a semi-disaster. I was alone {and I've NEVER done this alone...} and of course everybody was fighting over who got to pour and stir, etc., but we lived to tell the tale and we wound up with some gingerbread houses that will NOT win any awards, a gingerbread cake {because of an error on my part - I didn't read the right directions on the box!}, chocolate chip cookies, and those sugar cookies with Hershey's kisses stuck in them that Eddie's family has a name for that I will not be writing on the blog. :) My mom arrived just in time for me to send the boys down the hall with her for a bath. She says I planned it that way. ;)

{This is why I was hesitant to do this alone. Will clearly didn't care about decorating. I would hand him a piece of candy and ask where he was going to put it and he'd point to his mouth. Needless to say, he enjoyed this experience.}

{And this boy made his ALL BY HIMSELF. I iced it for him (and he really helped a lot with that!) and he did all the candy himself.}

James spent the night off with Grandmama and Granddaddy Monday night so when we got up on Christmas Eve Eddie and Will took off to run some last minute errands. I went into the kitchen and made Monkey Bread and Breakfast Casserole for Christmas morning. We were all done with our various chores by 11AM when James joined us to look for George - it was his last night with us. We had a small meltdown {the first of many by both boys} but we were able to regroup in time to leave for Part 1 of Christmas at Grandmama and Granddaddy's.

Opening gifts at Grandmama and Granddaddy's was chaotic. Both boys were exhausted already and overwhelmed. They were fine if THEY were opening a gift, but the patience it took to wait was a problem. Whew! We all wound up with some fun gifts, though! James got a super cool remote control red corvette that all the boys have had an awesome time playing with. Will got a hilarious dachshund that walks and wiggles to "Low Rider." Eddie and I got a new deep freezer. Much needed! Thankful for that! We got so many fun gifts. We had lunch with everyone and then headed to our house to get clothes for church.

There was no time for a nap but of course the boys fell asleep in the car on the way to pick up Mom, Anna, and Lance for church. Anna decided she wanted Will to enjoy church with us so we carried both sleeping boys in. Will had never been to church and when he woke he looked and looked all around. Then he began climbing from person to person to person. Thankfully he wasn't TOO bad, but he did get a little restless and noisy. I love Christmas Eve service. The pretty candlelight dancing around during Silent Night is my absolute favorite.

We did Christmas at Mama's after church and before our friends joined us for our annual Christmas Eve gathering. I was just too excited about Lance's gift {from Eddie...but really me} to wait any longer. I think it was the best idea I've ever had for a gift. Anna and Lance have just bought a new house so I thought something for the walls would be fun and what better to hang than a watercolor of their babies. Y'all, I will share more info on this later because it's the second commissioned piece that I've bought from this artist and she is wonderful and SO easy to work with. We got several FUN things at Mama's. :) The boys each got a scooter (James calls it a skewter). These will be lots of fun! More toys, more joys!

After we opened our gifts the Lees came over for Christmas Eve dinner. We really just snacked. We've been getting together with the Lees {+a few other families...but this year just the Lees} for as long as I can remember. {And we missed Mary Beth, Sarah Beth, and Dutch! See y'all next year!} We had a great time even though it was a small group this year!

We hurried home before Santa passed us over. We have a few Christmas Eve traditions that we almost skipped this year {and a few that we DID skip} because we were just so busy! We threw Reindeer Food out into the front yard, James hung our stockings on the key rack by the front door {no chimney here!}, we brushed teeth, put on jammies, and the boys were OUT like a light. Santa came just as quickly as he could and Eddie and I were in bed around 1AM. It never changes, does it? It's always late for parents. {We watched A Christmas Story on repeat just like we always do.}

Christmas morning was a fun time for two anxious boys! More later!