"Christmas Sunday" (as I call it) was a musical one, as always!  On the morning of December 21st, Ella sang with an ensemble of little girls as backup on a beautiful rendition of "Away in a Manger."  The girls sang words from that carol's second verse.  It was so sweet.  Ella got herself front and center as usual!  Then that night, our church had a catered Christmas banqet at which Jeff and I sang the cantata "Noel" with the adult choir.  It was a very nice way to celebrate the birth of our Savior!

 

The celebrations continued Monday morning.  We have never been in our own home on Christmas day, yet we still want to enjoy the fun of our kids getting up early and opening gifts around our own Christmas tree and sharing that time as just the four of us.  So each year on the morning that we leave for break, we have Christmas at home.  A fun addition this year was that we took Ella and Lucy shopping at one of those stores where everything is a dollar and let them pick out gifts for Jeff, me, and each other by themselves.  Lucy got Ella a Cinderella puzzle, Ella got Lucy a Star Wars ball (?!), the girls got Jeff a set of strawberry car fresheners (mighty strong, I might add!), and they got me a bear-shaped bottle of bath fizz.  It was so fun seeing what they came up with and I think we will make that a yearly tradition now.

 

We left home late Monday morning and traveled to Jeff's parents' house.  We had frigid temps and a lot of ice, and even lost power for about an hour and a half at one point, but it was so nice to be surrounded by family.  We opened gifts there on Wednesday morning and the girls got to spend some time playing with all their new toys.  That evening, as is our tradition, we got dressed up and went to the Christmas eve service at their church.  Jeff and I were thrilled to be asked to sing a duet during communion, as well as with an ensemble as the wise men entered.  Jeff and I sang "Offering (Christmas Version)" by Paul Baloche, and the ensemble sang "Bethlehem Processional" with drums, a rainstick, and a tambourine as the only accompaniment.  In addition to the music, we also got to take part in the service by helping lighting two of the five advent candles.  Jeff and Lucy lit the first one, Jeff's cousin lit the second, Ella and I lit the third (it was pink ), Jeff's uncle lit the fourth, and his dad lit the fifth while his mom did all the reading.  It was a really special time for our family.

 

Immediately following the service, we got the girls in their pj's and drove the two hour trip to my parents' house, as we do each year.  Check back again soon for part II of our trip!

On Friday night, Ella and Lucy attended the 5th birthday party of a friend from our church.  It was at Gattitown and boy, did they have fun!  For those who have never been there (this was our first time!), it's similar to Chuck E. Cheese's, except it is a pizza buffet and you use a credit card to keep track of tokens and tickets.  We had a great time.

 

Sunday night was the Children's Christmas Concert at our church.  Ella sang with the pre-school choir and I co-directed the K-5 musical.  It all went of just as well as we possibly could have expected.  All the kids were so sweet and the message of the true meaning of Christmas was proclaimed.

 

Monday night was to have been Jeff's Christmas concert at school, but the threat of inclement weather cancelled all after-school activities Monday night.  I was sad that they were never able to present all their hard work in a performance, especially since the threat never became reality, the weather was fine, and school was back in session as normal on Tuesday morning.  Jeff wasn't overly disappointed and enjoyed having the unexpected time at home with our family.  We watched the Grinch.

Since my last post, it seems our lives have been so full that I haven't found time to blog.  It's the most wonderful time of the year!   Our lives have been full with birthdays (Jeff turned 32 and three of Ella's friends have had birthdays), performances, and more.  The highlights are usually photographed, so I'll let the pictures do most of the talking this time.  I will just say that Jeff continues to recover well and passed his two-week follow-up with flying colors.  The surgeon said that he should feel back to normal by Christmas and that by next summer, he probably wouldn't be able to even see the scars.  We continue to praise God for how smoothly it has all gone.  Thanks to all who have prayed.  I hope you are enjoying the Christmas season!