Christmas Eve 2020

Here we are at our virtual candlelight service tonight - Mom had the candles ready beforehand, and we held the candles up as we sang "Silent Night" together.  We got home just in time to see the service, having been out to get some groceries, ready to cook something up for tomorrow's Christmas meal.  

But tonight, it was time to stay at home and settle down for the evening, and that "long winter's nap" that we get each Christmas.  Which isn't that long, come to think of it.  But that's okay, as it is Christmas Eve and all is well.  You can see Nana enjoying the service, and here below is Madison as well.

We had been watching Christmas movies and wrapping presents pretty much most of the day, and by day's end we were ready for Christmas.  

Check out this tray of cheeses that Mom made for us tonight as we were watching a Christmas movie.  Tonight's feature was "The Nativity Story," and after that "The Star."  The first of the movies is a really good telling of the Nativity Story, and yes, I know the Wise Men didn't actually visit that same night.  But they did in fact visit, and I have no problem with this version of the events.  We sat and watched these movies together, reminding ourselves of the real meaning of Christmas, and the real reason for the season. Oh, and the blessing of today was that it did in fact snow somewhat tonight!

Just before bed, we went outside, and saw the flakes start coming down outside, and within an hour or so, there was a small dusting on the ground that would stay there until the next day.  It's not a completely White Christmas, but it rarely snows down here, let alone on Christmas Eve.  So yes, we'll give it credit as a White Christmas.  It's not like the one we had a few years ago, but it's still just a magical thing seeing snowflakes come down on Christmas.

Ah, look!  There's the cookies and milk for Santa.  The reindeer got a carrot, as we're always pretty considerate of our house guest.  Madison was ready for bed earlier tonight, wearing the new pajamas that Jingle Bell and Snowflake left for her this morning.  And we had a nice fire in the fireplace too, as the temperature was dropping to super low temperatures tonight.

It just kept getting colder and colder.  It was raining a lot earlier, which meant ice on the roads, which meant we decided to keep things safe by staying home.  That, and the prevalent cases of this virus gave us pause enough to stay home at least this night.  It was nice though.  We were watching movies, and we even played the Charlie Brown Christmas board game a few rounds.  Nana won the first, and then Madison won the second.  I used the playing piece that has Charlie Brown on it, so it goes without saying that I never won!

Regardless, it was fun, and it was a nice day today - we made a trip over to Mary Shannon's right before the service tonight in order to drop off some Christmas presents and an ornament.  We're very excited for Christmas tomorrow.  We read "The Night Before Christmas" and said our prayers, and before long, all of us were snug in our beds, with dreams of sugar plums dancing in our heads.