"Of all the good days of the year..."

Christmas Eve day was filled with wrapping and baking, as it should be. In the early evening, we dressed the kids in their holiday best and brought them to the children's service at Dave & Cindy's church.

It was adorable! Each kid got a halo or sheep head so they could participate, everyone got a bell for the song at the end, and there was a lovely call and response of "Emmanuel: God with us." As a result, Miles now knows this word and its meaning.

In the evening, before dinner, we posed for a couple family shots, the last we will probably take with the old, inferior camera!

What's that? You can't handle how adorable she is either?

Jon and I sneaked out for the 11:00 service at St Anne's in Annapolis. It was regal, gorgeous, dreamy... and over 100 minutes long. They hadn't finished their pre-service oratorio selections when 11:00 hit, so they just went ahead and finished those, and then proceeded to a full mass just laden with glorious music. We stumbled blearily out at about 12:45 to a chill night and a sky full of stars... I regret nothing.

Still, it was a sleepy morning! This is what the tree looks like when you celebrate with 8 adults and 2 kids for Christmas morning:

Okay, so it was more than half for the kids. We couldn't help ourselves.

The kids couldn't believe their luck.

It was way too much fun! 

These hats were from the Blacksburg Christmas market, and were labeled, "To Miles and Adele, from Blacksburg." 

Among our haul this year was a new camera. The next entry begins pictures taken with that, far superior, device. 

I forgot to mention the 12.5 wonderous minutes of snow we saw, Christmas Eve, just before church. Snow was not in the forecast, and Jon & I agreed that it appeared to be snowing against Annapolis' will. The kids were jumping up and down and shouting, "Christmas Miracle! Christmas Miracle!"

They *might* have learned that from watching me do it. Might. 

Pray for me. Forecast here says "Chance of Snow: 0%"