... Christmas 2024

Christmas Eve 2024

Jingle Bell and Snowflake are on their way to the North Pole to help Santa get his ducks in a row, which I think is why you can see here a lot of ducks... in a row.  Or at least several rows.  Maddie got a kick out of this, and the note left behind that read:

We’ve got our ducks all in a row,

and had fun spreading Christmas cheer!

It’s time to head back to the North Pole.

We’ll see you once again next year!

After this, Maddie and I went off to do some last-minute shopping.  We were up in Dahlonega for a bit, and then over to Oakwood.  We had some mixed results, but on the whole, it should be a good Christmas! We got home just in time to see the big line at the church to get in.  Huge line for the first Christmas Eve service.  This is an hour before service time starts.

Obviously, I work there and can get in well ahead, but we were fine waiting outside and weren't really angling for any seats in particular.  Just to be there amongst the family of believers on Christmas Eve is fine with all of us.  And the weather was pretty nice outside too!  As for the service, it was very nice.

 

And it always ends with the candlelight service portion, all the people holding candles as we sing various Christmas carols and worship songs.  It's a special moment, something we've been a part of each year since the 90's, back in the old church building.  How time flies.

Afterwards, Maddie met some friends, and so did Mom and I.  In fact, Mom had placed an order with some friends about to go on a missions trip - they were raising money by selling bread and desserts.  Mom bought a lot of Christmas bark and sourdough bread.  We were already eating some of that on the way home!

Ah, and there's Santa.  The lighting here is kind of weird, but it was fun saying hello to Santa.  Pretty soon he's going to have to get off his throne there and GET TO WORK.  I mean seriously.  Isn't there something you're supposed to be doing tonight?

FAKE SANTA:  Knock-knock.

Sad Elf:  Who's there?

FAKE SANTA:  Arencha.

Sad Elf:  Arencha who?

FAKE SANTA:  Aren't you supposed to get back to work?!?

One more picture of Maddie here on Christmas Eve.  Lots of people here tonight at the church, but we enjoyed the service very much, and were soon in our car, ready to head home.

We had a few final things to wrap up, but not as much stress this year getting it all done.  In fact, we had time to watch a movie, "The Nativity Story," which is a great telling of the Christmas story.  We read some more from "A Christmas Carol" and even "The Hogfather" too.  

We had some other Christmas specials on, including a Michael W Smith and Amy Grant Christmas concert too.  Later on, we were tracking Santa with the NORAD tracker.  He's flying really fast tonight!

The one bummer is that we got a call from Nana, who has the flu.  Yeah, we're not coming over to their house tomorrow.  This is the first time this has happened ... ever.  We're talking decades here.  She feels bad, but we were able to just simply postpone it for another time.  It'll be okay.

Maddie made sure there were cookies and milk by the fireplace, and we got ourselves in our Christmas pajamas.  The stockings are hung by the chimney with care, and it wasn't long before we were all snug in our beds.  One more sleep 'til Christmas!

Godzilla Jingle Bell

There goes the neighborhood!  A small community of birdhouses and feeders seems to have popped up overnight beneath one of our trees, and sure enough, whenever that happens you can count on Godzilla to come stomping through, this time with Jingle Bell riding atop him.  

Christmas is coming soon, and we were having a nice day together, a relaxed one leading up to the big holiday.  This has been a fun little trend in the morning:

While on the treadmill, I've been watching all these VHS and DVD Christmas specials and movies, all since November 1st.  Today's movie was a gift from our friend Josh, "The Nuttiest Nutcracker," an old CGI movie from decades ago that has super limited graphics.  Ah, the early days of computer animation.  It was great though, certainly when you put things in context of the limitations of that time.  

Ah, and here's Maddie at one of our appointments today:  the psychologist.  I believe she thinks she's a shoe.  She's got a shoe on her head and has a fairly odd look about her because the idea was to jump up when the chiropractor comes in.  He's a great guy with a huge sense of humor, and she loves coming to visit.

Maddie was cracking up all during the adjustment, just as she's always done all these years.  It was a nice time.  Plus you can see some decorations in the place - just two more days to go until Christmas.

After that, everyone was super hungry.  We used some of our gift cards for Texas Roadhouse, visiting there afterwards.  That was a nice meal, and just a nice time together.  They had that place decorated nicely for Christmas, complete with the assortment of country Christmas songs too.  We ate well, and brought home some leftovers so that Mom can make some steak and eggs tomorrow.

We got home after this, and the rest of the day was a bit of a relaxing night.  We had a little bit of wrapping to do, and tonight's feature flick was "Hogfather," a longer movie, but a great one to watch while we're also reading the same book.  

Speaking of reading, tonight I was reading to the girls our copy of the original "A Christmas Carol."  We'll be reading that the next few days, and it's amazing how much of this we already have memorized.  So many classic lines heard time and again, year after year. 

We said our prayers tonight before bed, and everyone got to sleep at a reasonable hour.  We have a few things to do, but nothing massive tomorrow.  Maybe a little shopping, and certainly a Christmas Eve service.  But otherwise, a fairly relaxing holiday season awaits!