'twas the night before Christmas

There was some window shopping ...


And one last sighting of St. Nick, where the children all yelled out, "Be SAFE, Santa!"

There was the message on our answering machine from Uncle Michael Santa that we had to listen to four times because HE CALLED! OUR HOUSE!


There was a beautiful Christmas Eve service at our church and much hugging though out the day.


I've never seen such love among our children. At one point when I was trying to get the children dressed to leave for church and was feeling flustered because they were terribly busy ignoring me, William commented, "Mom. You know. Santa will not bring you a present if you are angwy, only if you are happy. So put on a smile. OK? See my smile?!"

There was the lovely fondue dinner that we ate and the one present we were each allowed to open. And there were the Christmas stories read.

There the cookies that we had planned to bake today, but then ran out of time and were so grateful that we had four boxes of Joe-Joe's on hand. We also placed out a glass of milk and nine carrots. One for each of the reindeer and Rudolph, too.

Did I mention Henry likes him some Joe-Joe's?


He likes him some Joe-Joe's alot.


What do you mean these aren't for me?


That's it. You GO brush your teeth big sister.

I'll just make sure that these are edible for the man in red.


Actually, Santa you're looking a little wide around the girth.


Consider this a favor. From me. To you. To me.


There's one cookie waiting for you and eight and a half carrots. And a glass of milk with a 1/2 carrot floating in it.

At the moment, we are tossing around in our beds too giddy to sleep and our mother and father are exhaustedly looking at the clock and hoping that maybe we'll be asleep before ELEVEN, so that they can get to bed before THREE.

But we are ready and waiting, Santa.

And not to worry, the fire will be out by the time you arrive.