"But it's December the 24th... "

And a part of me does long to be up north-

with my parents, having our traditional seafood and gifts, popping open Christmas crackers and wearing the silly crowns.

I remember when more family spent Christmas eve in Ohio, too. One year, my uncle Tye crept downstairs in the wee hours of the morning to hang his own set of stockings for everyone. Mine had a velveteen rabbit inside. It was magical.

I think I've grown to love Christmas Eve even more than Christmas Day.

This year was no exception. Despite a hurried start to the day (last minute errands- boo!) we all made it to the 4:00 service at church. It was lovely, as usual. My favorite part this year was at the very beginning, when an older gentleman from our church (who recently lost his wife, incidentally) got up to sing an a capella rendition of "C is for the Christ child." It was by far the most moving music I'd heard through all of advent. And we have a lot of great music around here.

After the service, we shared our favorite light display with friends. It is an amazing house with lights all over the yard and a garage filled with animatronic snowmen, angels, Peanuts, Santas, and more. Last year, the family took a year off, so we were very excited to visit again.

Of course, that put us behind a bit as far as making dinner. My kids ended up making a bag of Combos in the car the bulk of their Christmas Eve feast. (Don't worry, they had more than that- though not much more!) I began to feel frazzled, but then I stopped to remember that it was NOT doing everything perfectly that made the night special.

So, we sprinkled magic Reindeer food,

set out cookies for Santa (and more food for those hard-working deer),

watched the Grinch,

and grew a teensy bit impatient waiting on Daddy to finish wrapping.

Finally, it was time for our gifts for each other.

Our girls get the good stuff from Santa on Christmas morning, but they get PJs and books from Mommy & Daddy the night before. This year, I cheated a little and threw in a pillow pet, too. It was a big hit.

Big Sister was super excited about her Pillow Pet, too. It's a pink and purple unicorn. Fitting. You can see it in the next photo:

This was my favorite moment of the evening. Daddy, in all of his frantic running around in the few hours he had to himself before Christmas, picked out The Jesus Bible Storybook for the girls, just from him. And he read it with them before they put on their new pajamas and got ready for bed.

Big Sister was actually in a hurry to go to sleep, lest Santa pass us by. Little Sister put up her usual resistance, but was also soon asleep, snuggled with her ladybug.

Daddy and I stayed up until 1:30, getting the final preparations together for the next day. It was a little exhausting, but it also provided some of the first quiet holiday moments we were able to share together in weeks. We kept checking for snow, doubting the forecasters and wondering if we should have (not that we could have) gone up to Cincinnati.

But, though a part of my heart will always be in Ohio on Christmas Eve, there was really no other place I would have rather been than right here, with my sweet family.

And magical Christmas moments like this.

The Not-So-Enchanted Garden of Lights

On Tuesday night, we made our annual trip to Rock City for the Enchanted Garden of Lights.

I was not enchanted.

Our kids were worn out. They were worn out when we started. But, we had to go. At the risk of sounding like Tevye, it's tradition. We go every year.

Which is why we should not have gotten lost and taken an extra hour to get there. But I was okay with that. I even maintained my composure on the very foggy, winding road up Lookout Mountain. Except for the one time my husband thought swerving to scare me would be funny. I'm still not laughing.

There was a light mist in the air- enough to keep a lot of the crowds away. We had two free passes, which meant that we only had to pay for a ticket for Big Sister. So, despite the long trip, late arrival and tired kids, things were going pretty well.

Until Little Sister started asking us to carry her. And until Big Sister's excited anticipation of familiar parts of the path turned into boredom and frustration.

But the real turn of events happened after we took our family photo in Santa's sleigh. Big Sis told us she had to go to the bathroom "real bad," and we hurried to the closest one. She didn't make it. I had to call the Hubs from inside the bathroom, have him send Little Sis in so that he could run to the car, and then wait. FOR. EVER.

It wasn't pretty. There was a lot of fussing. From all three of us. After the hand-dryer made Big Sister's Tinkerbell shoes wearable again, we tried to get back to enjoying the lights. And the creeptastic Fairyland Cavern.

And somewhere in the Cavern, Little Sister peed her pants too.

I wish I were making this up.

And yes, before you ask, I DID ask her if she needed to go. After all, we had just spent enough time in the bathroom to start receiving catalogs there. But no, she apparently saw Big Sister's accident as precedent. Or a challenge.

Either that, or she has been watching Billy Madison while we weren't looking.

Fortunately, we were at the end of the trail, soon to be home and in non-pee clothes. We just had to make it through the dumb gift shop... Thank goodness for the unopened Happy Meal toys in the car! They at least kept some of the fussing at bay.



I know this post is a little, well, negative. It was not my favorite moment of the holiday season.

But it wasn't a complete disaster, either.

Little Sister noticed every light and said, "WOW!" more times than I could count. Big Sister rushed to sit in front of the Nativity show and then sat there mesmerized. We sang songs and nursery rhymes in Fairyland Caverns. We laughed.

And we got pictures of some of those parts. The GOOD parts.









Here's to focusing on the good parts.


P.S. I know the quality of the photos leaves a lot to be desired, but the mist was crazy! And I deliberately left the red-eye in that one picture because it was creepier AFTER I tried to fix it.

We make cute elves...

... and boy can we boogie. I especially like when the girls do the worm. Little Sis has got some breakdancing skillz!

Brunch with friends

About a week ago, we were invited to join some friends for a special visit with Santa and Mrs. Claus.

It was a wonderful afternoon of food, friends, and photo ops.

Here are a few favorites:

Song for Sunday: As the years roll along on their way

I love Christmas music, and my tastes vary from classic to cheesy to obscure. But my absolute favorite Christmas Album is Rosemary Clooney's Songs from White Christmas and Yuletide Favorites. This song is a relatively unknown Christmas song from the album. I had to search around to find the lyrics, and I ended up reading them in this amazing old LIFE magazine (the lyrics start on page 49). I'm pretty sure this is the only real Christmas song Rodgers and Hammerstein ever wrote. You can listen to a bit of it here. Or, just get Rosie's album. You won't be sorry...

Happy Christmas, Little Friend
Words by Oscar Hammerstein, 2nd
Music by Richard Rodgers

The soft morning light of a pale winter sun
Is tracing the trees on the snow,
Leap up little friend, and fly down the stairs,
For Christmas is waiting below.
There’s a tree in the room running over with stars
That twinkle and sing to your eyes,
And under the tree there are presents that say
“Unwrap me and get a surprise.”

Happy Christmas, little friend,
May your heart be laughing all day.
May your joy be a dream you’ll remember
As the years roll along on their way,

As the years roll along on their way,
You’ll be showing your own kid a tree.
Then at last, my friend, you’ll know
How happy a Christmas can be.

Big Sister's Party

Today I got to join Big Sis for her Christmas party at school. It was pajama day, and she was determined to wear her pjs with feet (she calls them onesies). Silly girl!


While we were there, her teacher had Big Sis read a book to her sister. I'm proud of my little reader, especially when she continues to impress her teachers!


But mostly, I just had a great time with my kiddo and her friends.

Thanksgiving, Part 2

When my family got back home, we had Thanksgiving dinner together.

I cooked way too much food.

My husband saved the Macy's parade on DVR so we could have it on in the background all day.

The kids only ate the sweet potatoes.

It was just like it should be.

Only a little better, actually, because this year, I had already put out Christmas decorations while the family was out of town.

There was something sweet about Thanksgiving dinner by treelight.