The Night before Christmas

I've written before about how incredibly fond I am of Christmas Eve (maybe I say something to this effect every year?).  This year was no exception.  Christmas Eve might possibly be my favorite night of the entire year.

Right after supper was over (spaghetti and Italian bread, this year) and while Jeff was still doing our Advent reading, the boys hurried to get out their sleeping bags, even though it wasn't bedtime yet.  They were SO excited.  Can't imagine who they get that from.  ;-)

Jeff had left work early and had gone by the store to pick up a few things we needed for our meal the next day.  He also found a few little surprises for his boys: bamboo staffs (they fight imaginary enemies with those!), superhero stickers (that's what Tobin is holding), some drill bits for Josiah to replace one that he borrowed and broke.  :)

Eventually it was time for their official Christmas Eve presents.  They each get one...

...and this year, it was a book.

Look & Find books (similar to Where's Waldo, but a little easier) for both Tobin and Shav...

...and for David...

...a joke book (maybe we'll do another month of jokes on his blog when January rolls around?)...  :)

...and as a bonus gift, a new sleeper!  It's a tradition for the boys to each wear a sleeper on Christmas Eve (and I noticed tonight, as I looked at previous blog posts about Christmas Eve, that Josiah has worn the same one for the past three years...looking at how he's grown and how much he had to maneuver to get his sleeper on this year, I'm thinking that come next year, he'll definitely have to have a new one!).  At some point last winter, the zipper on David's sleeper broke; and after consultation with my Old Order Mennonite neighbors, I decided that it wasn't worth it to try to have it fixed.  So we gave that old sleeper to cloth recycling, and I looked for a new one for David for this year.  A number of times in the days leading up to Christmas Eve, David remarked about how he wished he had a sleeper to wear this year; and each time, I tried to hide a smile and play dumb.  :)

Moriah, meanwhile, was watching all the action from one of her favorite spots to perch in the living room.  :)

Josiah's book was the first in a series called The Wormling (and, not to jump ahead or anything, the next day, we gave him the rest of the series, four of which he has already read; he reads incredibly fast).

Grandpa and Grandma were here to watch the fun.  :)

Moriah decided she'd relax before bedtime by playing a little game of chess.  ;-)

I'm pretty sure she won.  ;-)

Eventually, all the boys got into their sleepers, brushed their teeth, and laid down for the night.

And then popped back up to tell me how HARD it was to go to sleep and how EXCITING it was to see the presents under the tree and WHEN was I going to come to bed and so on.

I think Josiah was the first to fall asleep; but oddly, he woke up after an hour or two and then had such a hard time going back to sleep (not because he wasn't comfortable, but because he was excited) that he actually ended up going upstairs and sleeping in his bed!

There are no pictures to prove it; but after I did the dishes and finished preparations for the next day, I laid down on the couch, read from my Bible by the light of the Christmas tree, looked around at all the precious sleeping faces in that one room, then happily--so happily--fell asleep.

Oh, I do love Christmas Eve!