Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was a fun day for our family!  We started the morning by having the boys open one small present - we usually open one small gift on Christmas Eve each year and the morning was really the only chance we were going to have ... and the boys have been very into slippers this year and Levi only had a pair of like 18 month slippers he had been cramming his feet into for a few weeks.  They were very excited about them - Isaiah Transformers and Levi Batman.  We then enjoyed some blueberry muffins for breakfast (after I went on a hunt for donuts - I like to do something special on holiday mornings, but didn't have a chance to get anything prepared and not a single store was open at 9ish am on Christmas Eve).  Mark then had to go play some laser tag for the rest of the morning and afternoon and the boys and I made some puppy chow and hung out together.  Things were running a bit late at the store so the boys and I headed to church and Mark met us there just a few minutes after we got there with our friends Chris and Mohammad (there is no better time to invite friends to church, we were thankful that they agreed to come!).  The service was beautiful and the boys did really good - a big thank you to whoever thought to play the Christmas Story cartoon as we were waiting for church to start - definitely made our life easier as we got to church early to make sure we had enough seats.  It was pretty special to sit in the very dimly lit church with a brand new baby celebrating the birth of baby Jesus.  

 After church we headed to Mark's dad and step-mom's house to celebrate Christmas with them.  Grandpa Mark took first dibs on holding baby Titus and held him just about all night :)  The perfect Christmas gift for him!!  Mark shared the Christmas Story of Jesus' birth with all the kids around the table and then we sang happy birthday to Jesus.  Shortly after we heard sleigh bells and Santa arrived!  The kids were all sooooooo excited! Baby Titus was excited to meet Santa too (as his shirt says he is Santa's favorite -- thanks Gretchen!!).  Levi kept asking Santa where his reindeer were, but because there was no snow, Santa had to park them in the field a ways away!  Grandma Cindy couldn't let Santa leave without some goodies, but Levi thought he needed another cookie too and tried to get Santa's :)  He did let him eat a bit of the frosting.  haha The night flew by with eating good food, giving gifts and enjoying the chaos of 7 kids 6 and under and before we knew it we had to head home.