Christmas Eve 2007

A rough Christmas Eve timeline, from our house.

10:00 AM - Get up. Vacation is glorious!
Noon - Lunch. Many options, since we've had such good meals in the preceding days.
12:30 PM - Sarah, Troy and Leah play Rummicube while Sherry prepares the frosting.
1:15 PM - Decorate the sugar cookies. Troy and Lee are initiated into the tradition. Several good decorations, with this years notables being some intricately decorated trees and snowmen, a tie-dye cookie or two, a polar bear in the grass, and the Star Wars characters.
2:45 PM - Sherry starts cooking the chicken soup. The rest of us do our own thing, killing time, anxious and exicted. Once again, the Wii Sports game is used for some bowling and baseball.
5:00 PM - Arrive at church. We're the first people to sit down (but not by much) so we had our choice of pews. 7th back on the right. And all nine of us fit quite well -- good thing we're all thin! (Though I'm less so, after all the goodies I've been eating!)
5:30 PM - Service begins. A mix-up puts the hymns out of order, but at least we sang them all! Pastor's message: remember, we didn't deserve Christmas, so be thankful and appreciate this most holy of nights.
6:55PM - Start the photos. While the soup noodles cook, we get our pictures taken. Everyone looked so great!
7:15 PM - Dinner! Chicken noodle soup, French bread, cheese which Adam sliced, goodies, veggies, crackers, lefse!
8:30 PM - Open the gifts! One at a time. Excellent fun, and joyful togetherness. I got to go on a hunt! Using 15-year old pictures of Leah from a hunt in 1992. What a joy! Some great gifts, too.

• Adam & Marisa: a digital photo frame. I'll get that working this morning.
• Lucas: A Wii-mote charger. Also, an enjoyable task for this morning.
• Sarah & Leah & Sherry: Framed poster-sized photos of Halfdome, Maui & Kuai.
• Lee: A painting of Gooseberry Falls for Sherry and me.
• Sherry: Several nice articles of clothes, the Pullman Dark Materials trilogy (Golden Compass, etc.), and a new leather coat!
• Mike: The Writer's Journey by Mark Vogler.
  

11:00 PM - Movie: Eragon. We had gotten it for Leah, and only she and Lee had seen it before. All nine of us watched, unlti Sarah & Troy wisely decided to go get some sleep before leaving at 5:45 AM Christmas morning for Waukesha.

This was a blessed Christmas Eve. Surrounded by my family, full of love. I hope each and every person who celebrates Christmas had a great day!