Can You Believe It's Christmas Eve?

My house can hardly contain the energy of two very excited little kids this Christmas Eve. It probably doesn't help that we're on the Elf Diet this morning. I made cinnamon toast for breakfast and then for a snack I gave the kids little baggies of marshmallows. Tonight after our church's Christmas Eve service we're having a spaghetti dinner with some dear friends and, I don't know, there could be syrup.

Our schedule for this week was a 9.5 out of 10 on the busy scale. It was all fun stuff, but there was something big on the calendar every day. That was until Wednesday morning when the pre-Christmas stomach bug of 2011 hit our family. A group of ten had shared dinner together at my parents' house on Monday night and by Wednesday morning, four of us in four different homes were wishing they could be unconscious for a while. Jackson was the sick one in our house, bless his heart.

The care-taking anointing fell on Curtis and he sprung into action. The obsessive compulsive vomit phobia came upon me and I pretty much retreated to my room until the fun was over - about 24 hours later. We cancelled everything that had been planned for the next two days and went into hermit mode. That's never ideal, but maybe we needed to rest and just be together at home.

I have to say, I've been really excited about having a break from the school schedule. It's not really hard, but it's nice not to set an alarm. My hubs has won major points for letting me sleep until 10 AM on two separate occasions.

I was very proud of Jackson on his last day of the semester. He's kept a great attitude about school, stayed enthusiastic about learning, and behaved himself in class. Of course, when I sat him down and poured out my words of affirmation, he responded with, "Are you going to give me a gift now?" I said, "Son! I am giving you a gift - my words!" Ha! We clearly do not have the same love language.

Speaking of words, the kids have been cracking us up with their sayings. Jackson's been saying "yesterday yesterday" instead of "the day before yesterday." Annabeth's speech is gold, pure gold, with go-to expressions like "booly halla," which has a mysterious meaning that we have not been able to discern. Yesterday she kept saying, "I tell you a secret." Then she'd whisper, "Butterfly," or "The dragon and the butterfly are at the airport."

Abey's third birthday is just over a month away and she is changing so much. For a while I doubted I would live to see her third birthday because I was just sure her contrariness was taking decades off my life. But it became apparent that some very mean and nasty molars were making their way through. I hoped my sweet, if headstrong, girl would come back to me soon and she finally did.

We have our first Christmas Eve service tonight at Bayou City Fellowship. It seems surreal that all of this has actually happened between last Christmas and now. I can't wait to worship Jesus with our church family on this special night. The chapel we normally use is not going to have electricity due to some construction getting ready to happen at the school, so we're having a candlelight service outside. (We have a plan if it rains.) If you don't have a place to worship this Christmas, we'd love for you to join us tonight at Houston Christian High School at 5 PM. Bundle up and bring some blankets and lawn chairs. There will be child care for babies up to age 2.

Have a very merry Christmas, friends!