Christmas Eve

Joseph and Mary with baby Jesus--a doggie in this case

We were invited to Christmas Eve at a friend's house. How great to spend the afternoon with other families and share a meal. We read the Christmas story at the end, and the girls wanted to act out the parts. As the other kids there weren't as enthusiastic, Claire offered to be Joseph, a shepherd and a wise man. Sylvie was so happy to be Mary and had the sweetest face as she rocked baby Jesus.

We spent almost 2 1/2 hours in traffic on the way home, so the kids were exhausted but Santa-hyper, too, that night. They put out reindeer food on the balcony (oats with glitter), sure that theirs would be the first house visited because the reindeer would smell the food. I had to keep reminding them that Santa could see in their window and wouldn't stop unless he saw them asleep. They eventually conked out at around 9:30, and Santa was able to do his work.