I planned the day to stay busy so that the thought of you-know-who coming tonight would not be constantly on our minds. I started the day by wrapping and was almost done by the time Stefanie woke up. Stef had offered to help me with the day-before cooking so that is what we did together once she was awake. We made the cranberry mold (haven't yet checked to see if it has gelled or not), the sweet potato casserole and cleaned and cut the green beans. It will be nice to have those out of the way tomorrow. Around 2:00 we decided that we'd better start making cookies, but then we noticed that the mixing bowl was in the dishwasher and it looked like it wouldn't be done for another 45 minutes. So out we went for our last minute grocery shopping. Did you know there is NO peppermint ice cream this year? At least none left. Going to plan B - making my own peppermint ice cream looked like an impossibility because there must be a shortage of candy canes - there are NONE of those left either! But we found some other red and white minty things that I'll try to use. Steffi won the "eagle eye" award for finding the peppermint syrup which was on my list and I had all but given up finding.
Stefanie and I were able to get 4 trays of M&M cookies in and out of the oven before it was time to go to the Christmas Eve service at church. That just leaves me to finish about 12 more trays. Most of the service is inside and there is lots of singing by the choir and the congregation, some bell ringing and the pastors tell the familliar Mary, Joseph and birth of Jesus stories. We end the service in candlelight singing carols and proceeding outside. The very last song we sing is Silent Night. It is a lovely way to prepare our minds for the real meaning of Christmas.
We came back to the house and I read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" to Steffi and Duncan. The children pictured in the book we have look just like Steffi and Duncan did around ages 3 and 4. It used to be the last thing we would do before bed so now we just modify it to be the last thing before they go to their Dad's house for the night. I quickly did another 4 trays of cookies before going over to Mike's for dinner with his kids. Mike had made some absolutely delicious chicken parmesan. Obviously he has been holding back his cooking skills from me! Katie has an 8 a.m. flight on Christmas morning so their routine was adjusted to do a partial exchange of presents with each other. It was really fun to experience their traditions and I am beginning to get excited to see how our different family ways of doing holidays will meld together next year.
When I arrived home, it looked like Santa had just been there!
Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas today!
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