Christmas Eve

We were to bring diced tomatoes and shredded lettuce for the traditional Christmas Eve enchiladas. It was almost time to go and I was busy in the kitchen cutting away. As I was finishing up Talan walked in and began throwing up. I reached down to help him and he was burning up with a fever. The poor little guy was so sick! David quickly put him in the tub and I began cleaning up the mess in the kitchen.

We decided that I would take all the kids to the party and David would stay home with Talan. By this time we were late and I was worried that we were holding things up. We hurried to get everything in the car then I raced to the Haws'. When I got there I had each kid help bring something into the house. The tomatoes! Where are the tomatoes? Did we leave them behind? At this point I was more than frustrated. I threw my stuff down in the house and headed back out to the car to drive back for the tomatoes.

When I got home David told me that Vicky had called and insisted that David and Talan come for Christmas Eve. Sick or not, they were both welcome. Immediately I felt better! There is just something about Christmas and having your family all together that's important!

So David got Talan dressed and came as soon as he could. The Motrin kicked in and Talan felt good for an hour or two.

We had our traditional enchiladas

and then each family presented a talent.

Jeremy and RuthAnn had their son Taylor recite the Grinch who stole Christmas. He is truly amazing! He recites the whole entire book from memory and he is only in the 1st grade.

Heidi and Nate had their daughter Elise play a number on the piano, also very good.

Emily and Ben played the Viola and the Guitar. They sounded beautiful!

And then Kelli played the piano.

Everyone who preformed was amazingly talented. And then it was up to us, THE GRAND FINALE (so to speak) to bring it home!

In all of our musical glory we preformed 3 numbers on the brass pipes using a beautiful set of wrenches of course! We truly outdid ourselves! We brought the house down with tears of laughter! Reagan was #15 and a little slow on delivery when it came to the live performance. Whenever it would come to her note there would be a little pause and then someone would whisper REAGAN! And then note #15 would play beautifully shortly there after! It was awesome!

All the kids took part in the Nativity. Ethan played the part of Joseph...

Carsten (in front) was a sheep and a very good one I might add. Bradon was a wise guy, I mean a wise man! But to tell you truth, he is a bit of a wise guy too! And then Reagan was an angel!

We sang Christmas songs and ended the night with a family prayer.

As soon as we got back home the kids decorated cookies for santa and made hot chocolate. We read the Christmas Oranges story and Talan fell asleep in my arms. The kids all got to open their Christmas pajamas and then it was time for bed. Talan wouldn't wake up for anything so we dressed him in his sleep and put him to bed. Surprisingly enough the kids went to bed quite quickly!

Such cute personalized pajamas from the Disney store!

I love them... And my kids too!