Christmas Eve again

My previous post told about how we had an early Christmas and Christmas Eve with Glen's family...

Our second Christmas Eve happened on December 24th with just me, Lori, Glen and Lylah. There was talk on the news of really bad weather including ice, sleet, and blizzard -like conditions. You never know if it will come or how bad it will really be. But it all came true this time. It started up around 4:30 in the afternoon and kept on going all the way through December 26th. But we had a wonderful Christmas Eve despite the weather. Our church canceled services, but there was another church in town that was brave enough to keep the doors open and we bundled up and went there. It was a lovely service that included 3 baptisms,the Lord's Supper, and the singing of "Silent Night" by candle light. When we left the service we had to pry our car doors open and drive through slippery, icy sludge all the way home.

Here is Lylah enjoying her candy cane--notice the red lips--
before our super- awesome frozen pizza dinner.

Lylah opened her Christmas Eve gift. It would normally be PJ's but Grammy sent them alittle earlier in the week and I had to see her in them before Christmas Eve too. She opened hermicrophone because she thought the wrapping was funny and looked like a carrot.She practiced saying, " Hello down there" as if she were speaking down a tunnel.
Here she is in her Christmas cat pj's from Grammy. It's a bad picture.
But it's the only one I could get. It's either no smile or jumping these days with her.
All my pictures seem to be a blur as of late.

In the evening we ( Glen, Lori, Lylah, and I) made gingerbread houses together. Glen made his completely snow covered and minimalist. We all agreed it was nice but it needed a door. He showed it to Lylah who said, " Oh, Dada, it's so nice and beautiful. But it has no door, does it?" He said the door got snowed under. Lylah covered her house with as much candy as possible because she was pretty sure she would get a taste of each thing before she allowed it to be attached to the house. (Again with the chipmunk cheeks) Lori and I both were trying for beauty and style. If we had had better icing we might have had better luck. Our stuff kept slipping off. But they were quite festive all sitting together in a row on the dining table.

from left: Mine, Lori's, Lylah's, Glen's

We will have to do our houses earlier next year so we can enjoy them more. I fully intended to have the houses on display with on of my favorite Christmas decorations, Santa and his Roadrunners, but I never ended up decorating much this year. I ran out of time. [ A side note for those who don't know: I was born in New Mexico and my Dad's family is from there. My grandpa used to make Santa and Roadrunners to sell at craft fairs. The roadrunner is the NM state bird. When my grandparents passed away I got this bit of Christmas nostalgia and I love it so much.]

Lylah reading the Christmas story with her Daddy ( or dada as she likes to
all him right now--I'm mama. Sounds so sweet)

After our houses were made Glen read Lylah the story of Christmas from her Jesus Storybook Bible. I love this Bible. I have cried more than once over the beauty of the storytelling and the way the author makes simple truths come to life. The subtitle says: every story whispers His name. It tells all the Old and New Testament stories from the perspective of looking to Jesus as the rescuer and redeemer of all of us. It speaks so plainly of how God loves us and wants us to know him and follow him. Lylah loves this Bible and will look at it for quite a while and tell us about the stories.
Glen read one part of the story that said that God was like a proud Daddy telling everyone about the birth of his son. She was so excited that God is a daddy too. She said," like I have a daddy...like you daddy". It brought tears to our eyes. What a responsibility we have to show her her Heavenly Father and help her to try to understand that love!

I looked and looked for a children's bible that was simple but did not speak to
children as if they were stupid, had nice illustrations,and did not leave out the Crucifixion. I found so much more in this bible than I expected.I have read it devotionally for myself several times too. It's so good.

Our tree decorated with our special ornaments and favorite lights.
All of Lylah's gifts under the branches--guarded closely by the elf in cat's pajamas.
He hardly ever left his post throughout the season.

We tucked Lylah in bed with the anticipation of getting to open presents and eat Jesus' birthday cake the next day. She was out like a light. And then Lori and Glen and I finished up her Christmas surprises, took pictures of the snow, and went to bed too. We were all pretty excited to share Christmas morning and found it hard to sleep. I think I was up at 6 waiting for Lylah to stir so I could go in and get her.

Our white Christmas. This was only the beginning...