Christmas Eve 2019

Christmas Eve 2019 was so fun!  (Okay, so it was a little stressful too...) I did my normal morning routine: waking way too early, reading from Jesus the Christ (I thought I could read all 42 chapters before Christmas, but I'm still only on ch. 25), went for a walk, cleaned out the van, etc.  Then, I figured I still had plenty of time to get Libby and Sarah to finish cleaning up their room.  Like a deep clean.  Like I dumped out the princess bin (which had become full of all kinds of random things).  Libby lost her mind (she was hungry--which I didn't realize--who hasn't eaten breakfast by 10 am).  As all of this is unfolding, I am realizing I still need to make my soup, get the tables set for 23, shower, and get to our 1:20 movie time. Then Derek texts that he has a late call and can't go get the traditional donuts.  I drop everything and the kids and I head to TOP POT in Edmonds. I practically buy them out of donuts.  (Note to self for next year: 3 dozen was WAY too many, even for 23 people.)  We rush back home.  We do some teamwork, table setting, soup making, room cleaning, and leave for the movie about 20 minutes later than we should.  Then we accidentally went to the wrong floor of the movie theater.  But we decide to buy our concessions there anyway.  The worker is really struggling with our order.  We end up having to cancel most of the order, I end up with an extra large drink instead of a small.  While we are waiting for the food, Ben is tapping his watch.  He is grabbing handfuls of popcorn.  He declares, "I AM STRESS EATING!"  Derek missed the movie because the DUI call he was on took SO long.  But the rest of us LOVED Jumanji: The Next Level.(If you didn't know, I am a huge Rock fan).  And for the record, we didn't even miss the previews of the movie.  

When we got home from the movie, we did a few last minute prep things, and then the party got started!

Tradition is very important to the Norton family.  I think for the most part we kept it true to form.  There was clam chowder and donuts (even if we added a few more soups).  We had a different kind of rolls, made by the Hardies, and they were DELICIOUS.  

We had some musical numbers (this is a Randall tradition that I inserted several  years ago).  Libby sang "Winter Wonderland," Sarah sang her number for the variety show, "Wonderful Life." We had the nativity.  We finished with "O Holy Night."  Some were lucky enough to stay for a viewing of some old Randall family home videos--a very memorable rendition of "The Mormon Rap" and "Pinecones and Holly Berries" from when I was about Libby's age.  We watched "Twas the Night Before Christmas" a new version that my brother made for this year.  

Grammy gave out the pajamas. (She didn't need to forget them this year, because Derek had Christmas Day off. The kids asked her to still forget them, but I had her go and get them before the evening got rolling.)  True to tradition, Libby's were too big.  

But it was a wonderful night, remembering our Savior, and how lucky we are that we have each other.  And that we are not celebrating at the Intermountain Medical Center again this year!

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Loved Jumanji!  It was hilarious.  

There was one hiccup in the frantic table setting.  Most settings only had spoons, no knives or forks.  Oops.  At least the main dish was soup.  Also, this tablecloth inspired all the other tables, which had a white tablecloth and then wrapping paper on top to match this cloth.  Just as dinner started someone spilled a whole giant cup of cider on this table, so the cloth was gone before we even really started eating :).  

Nativity Roles: 

Mary: Wren

Joseph: Ben

Innkeeper: Kaj

Angel:  Rose, Sarah 

Shepherd (s):  Brett, Ann, Joe 

Sheep: Willow, Libby, Yukine

Wise Men:  Emma, Maren (note, not a sheep), Geneva

Bell Choir: Trish, Derek, Whitney, Brittain, Asami, Kanata, David, Alayne

O Holy Night

The Wise Women

A good view of the STAR.

The Shepherds

The angels

Mary and Joseph, who had a hard time not laughing at first.  (Wren has a pretty big crush on Ben, which made this a little adorably awkward for both.)

Willow was our sheep, and she had a blast dancing around during the talents.  She was pretty hot and tired by the end.  

A few years ago I bought a holiday ring toss.  I buy some of those big candy filled candy canes.  This year even adults got in on the action.  Geneva won with her first set of rings.  

The PJ success stories!  Geneva took Libby out on Friday to get some other PJs.  It worked out just fine (even though Libby was originally really mad at me for telling Grammy that the original pjs didn't work.) 

We were cleaned up and in bed at a reasonable hour with Uncle Davey here to help too.  All in all, it was a Merry Christmas Eve.  Next year, maybe we will do the movie on Christmas Day.