Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve at our church is always a big deal and this year was no exception. The church was packed full of people and the all the children were excited to get on with the show. Our boys were so anxious/excited/antsy for church that I told Ben in the car on the way to church, "I'm done with Christmas." Sad, huh? But they were nuts and fighting and yelling and hitting and it's only an 8 minute drive! So, once I got them to their classrooms at church and took a deep breath I felt quite a bit better. 

 Like I said, the church was packed and Ben had to help during the service so sitting up in the corner of the balcony wasn't an option. Instead we hung out at the back of the church.

 Levi's class sang a song and then each of them said a line. (This is the first of several blurry photos...shooting from the back of a dark church isn't the best for photos...) He did great! We never practiced his line at home, he learned it in Sunday School and I was so proud of him for saying it clearly so everyone could understand him.

 Next up was the traditional time when children are invited to share a special piece with the congregation. Ben's job was to introduce each child (which sounds simple, but you just never know what those kids will do up there!).
 Noah claimed his heart was racing while he played "Silent Night." But he did the VERY best he's ever done - in front of hundreds of people no less! At home there were a couple spots where he'd pause                         while he figured out what his fingers should to do next, but he barely paused at all that night!

 And then Levi and my mom played "Away in a Manger" as a duet. They decided that morning that doing a duet would be fun (I think it gave Levi the courage to actually get up there and play) and it was wonderful!

 At that point, both Levi and Ben had fulfilled their roles in the program so we set out to find some actual seats so we could watch the musical that the older kids were performing. We snuck in, under the balcony where the shepherds and angels had been sitting, and then I looked up to realize that the Christmas tree and organ were completely blocking our view of the choir loft where Noah was singing!

 Oh well. The other bum deal was that since our seats were originally assigned to the shepherds and angels, who were on stage until the very end of the program, there were no candles in our pews for us to use during the candle lighting at the end of the service. This simply would not work for Levi. He insisted on finding a candle. He was going to go look by himself but I worried he'd be loud with the doors and whatever else, so I followed him. Talk about being all over the place during a church service! We looked in one lobby, nothing. We walked across the back of the church, through all the people in charge of the program, and some shepherds and some wise men, to the other lobby, nothing. Shucks. Finally, just before we went back to our seats I spotted one lone candle up on a coat rack. It was like a Christmas miracle!

 It certainly does feel like a holy moment when the church is lit by candle light and everyone is singing "Silent Night."

But of course, once the candles are blown out the chaos starts up again. The boys were off and running to get their Christmas sacks from down in the basement and then eventually we headed for home.
The boys decided days ago that they wanted to wait and open their gifts on Christmas morning. Last year, we opened gifts on Christmas Eve because of our family gathering schedule on Christmas Day. This year we let them decide when to open gifts. They both agreed that waiting until Christmas morning was a good idea. That all changed on our way home from church....again, that car ride...let's just say the night ended with Levi bawling and screaming and Noah doing his best to act mature and patient. Ben and I ended up sitting on the couch bewildered at how emotionally taxing Christmas is on kids.