Hays-Z Days: Christmas 2011

We had Christmas with just our family this year. We went to church on Christmas Eve at 3:00pm. We got there about 7 minutes before the service started...which was too late! The sanctuary was already full so we had seats out in the lobby. There ended up being over 200 people seated in the lobby. It worked out well though with Elise and the boys being a little antsy. It was a beautiful service, celebrating the birth of Jesus. We ended the service singing "Silent Night" to candlelight. I had a not-so-great Mom moment when I extinguished my candle on Isaac's forehead...accidentally of course! Thankfully his hair didn't start on fire and he didn't cry. I felt terrible but was trying to juggle too many things, apparently!
After the service, we came home and had dinner, then read the Advent Book. The kids have really enjoyed reading the Nativity story each night and opening another door. By the end of the book, Isaac had a lot of it memorized. I guess repetition pays off!
We opened a few presents on Christmas Eve and then the rest in the morning. We had stockings for the kids. We had decided not to do "Santa", although they do know about him. We think Santa's fun but don't want to take the focus off of the real reason for the season, Jesus.
We had a lazy Christmas Day, starting with Overnight French Toast and ending with a ham dinner. We finished the Advent Book and put together our Nativity puzzle. It was a nice and restful day.