December 24, 2021-Merry Christmas Eve!

(click for today's pictures)

• While I was laying in bed this morning, I realized that even after a trip to Kroger and a trip to Walmart yesterday, I didn't buy the one thing that I needed to make monkey bread-biscuits. Yep, what in the world? I don't think that I even wrote it on my list. 
• That was fine though because I made plans to go to the store. I had worked on most things in my mind about how the morning would go, but Robby graciously volunteered to go to the store since we wanted to pick up some dog food as well.
• I did those pesky dishes and laundry along with walking Bentley. Now, I was a bit frustrated on our walk with our neighbor dog who wanted to play and bite Bentley's ears during my walk. I didn't let that silly dog steal my Christmas eve joy though.
• Robby left and I worked on getting things ready for tomorrow's breakfast. Then when he came home, we both continued working on getting things ready. I stayed in the kitchen until a little bit after 2, but everything-well, most everything is ready to go. (Well, now that I think about it-there is still one more thing that I need to do before bed in the kitchen.)
• I did lay my head down for just a little bit, but soon it was time for my shower before heading to church. Our Christmas eve service started at 4 today so we quickly found our seats. Nonna, Pops and Jason joined us at our seats tonight-well, there wasn't enough room for Nonna and Reagan so they sat in front of us.
• When it was time for the kids to go down to the front, Keaton went with her friends that were sitting nearby. However, we didn't think that Whitman was going to join for the kids for a little bit. He did change his mind and joined all of the others eventually though.
• Of course my favorite part of the service is the ending with the candles and Silent Night. It was pretty perfect as always. When we left, we went to Nonna and Pops' house for supper. 
• Nonna had cooked a big meal of ham, potato casserole, corn casserole, green beans and rolls. It was all delicious-plus there was a tray of Nonna's Christmas goodies along with Pops' cheese and cracker tray. 
• Even though the kids are getting older, they still could not wait to open their presents. The tree was so completely full underneath it with presents. Pops was the first to open one of his presents, and then we took turns opening one by one.
• Reagan loved all of the clothes that she received. Anderson's most surprised gift was his huge Star Wars Squishmellow. Graham is pretty excited about going to Dave and Busters with Pops. Campbell received a huge bean bag chair. Keaton's favorite was her squishmellow, and Whitman was pretty excited about his stop motion Lego set. 
• When we finally finished opening all of the presents, we started on dessert. We did eventually have to head home. The first order of business here was to let Bentley out. Then we threw out our reindeer food. Next up was our cookies and milk picture with everyone in front of the tree. 
• Now, the kids are bigger now so there aren't really Christmas pajamas for that picture. However, there has been talk about matching feety pajamas for the whole crew next year. Maybe, just maybe that will happen.
• I did a few more things to get ready for tomorrow, before I sat down. Robby turned on Elf, and we started watching it. Hopefully, we won't finish it because there are lots of presents that need to be moved tonight.