Being home on Christmas Eve is a rare thing for our family! My parents can count the number of times on one hand in the last 30+ years they’ve lived in Cedar Falls that they haven’t traveled back to Harlan for Christmas. This year we were unable to travel due to my dad’s hip surgery. As much as we missed seeing family, it was really nice being able to stay home!
Matt’s mom has a tradition of making A LOT of appetizers and goodies for Christmas Eve. They invited my parents and the Garvins over to help us eat all the food! Matt and Danielle were just getting back from Davenport, but were able to come over for a bit before church. My parents ended up going to an earlier service at St. John’s and then headed back home. This was my dad’s first time out and they wanted to go to a smaller church with less people!
McKenna got to open a couple presents early from Jeanie’s sister and brother-in-law. Matt’s Aunt Paula (Tim’s sister) stopped over for a bit to see us and she brought a present too!
The girls had fun playing while the adults socialized and ate!
Trying to get a decent picture of the three girls is getting harder by the day! McKenna was the main problem this time! She kept wanting to get down and run away! : ) We had to settle with a family picture of her not looking. Maybe next year?!
We attended the 7:00 service at Orchard Hill this year. It was a bit weird walking into church with no snow on the ground!
The service was perfect. The “gym” was beautifully decorated with white lights, the music was amazing, and hearing The Christmas Story read by Pastor Ed reminded us all the reason for the season. My favorite part was helping Kenna hold her candle as we sang “Silent Night”. Watching her face light up with excitement warmed my heart. (And helped ease my fear of her holding a lit candle!)
After church we headed home to get ready for Santa! Before getting jammies on I had to try again to get a good picture of my girl in her Christmas dress! Little Miss started out pretty silly and good ol’ Lexi girl kept getting in the way… Keep trying?… Yes!!! So glad I did!
Kenna and I then listened to Twas the Night Before Christmas, a recording by Grandpa and Grandma Goetz (a gift from last year). This is the start of a new tradition!
After jammies Kenna picked out some goodies for Santa and his reindeer while daddy got Santa a glass of milk. Shannon, our daycare provider and neighbor, gave us this cute little Santa kit this year and I LOVE it! You can also leave a note for Santa!
McKenna was SUPER excited to leave the cookies and milk for Santa and his reindeer. She reminded us numerous times that they were for the reindeer too! Mommy was a bit worried that Lexi might get to the cookies first, but daddy reassured her that it was going to be fine (and he was right!)!
(For days after McKenna kept telling (in a really fast voice) whoever she saw that she put out cookies and milk for Santa and his reindeer and that they ate them all gone. I would normally get a look of confusion from them so I’d have to translate for her!! It was so cute how she was so anxious to tell everyone!)
It’s been so much fun watching Kenna this year with all the holiday excitement. Anytime she would hear bells ring she would say, “Is that Santa?!” I would love to know what her little mind was thinking as we tucked her into bed while saying, “Tomorrow morning we’ll get to see if Santa came!”
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