Heiligabend

Today we all woke up in a mad dash to get to church on time. You would think with church being 1 1/2 hours later than normal, that we could get our act together. But that is not the case. We did manage to get there just in time though.

I must confess, that church today was the best I can remember in a long time. Gardner had to sit with the choir the whole time, but even so, Emma did not make a peep. She sat on Grandpa's lap the whole time. She colored a little but mainly just sat there and was happy. Normally, I am trying to quiet kids down and stop arguing, even in church. But not today. That was very nice.

Afterwards, I found myself in the kitchen cooking. I made Homemade AuGratin Potatoes, Peach Cobbler, Orange Rolls, a Vegetable tray with dip and Ham. It does not sound like much, but I was in there for more than 3 hours.

Spencer got his birthday present from Grandma and Grandpa Wheeler today and it was a new Playstation 2 game: Lego Star Wars 2. Spencer and the girls played most of the afternoon. Spencer was so very excited.

Grandpa switched the strings on our Guitar today and started playing. Shantal picked up the guitar at one point and figured out how to play "Ihr Kinderlein Kommet" on there. She was very excited and maybe this will spark an interest in playing it.

Tonight, we read the Christmas story from the bible with the kids. We finally got the kids in bed at 9pm but then I had my work cut out for me.

I decided, that Christmas Eve is a parents worse night mare. I was wrapping presents for 2 1/2 hours when I decided I was done. We were mainly finished anyway. But my back could not take anymore.

This has been a very unusual Christmas for us. We actually have had several "Santa" items arrive at our house this year. Yesterday, we had so much food delivered to us. There was the Ham we had today, lots of fruits and vegetables. Today at church, we got a card stating it was from Santa, and it had 200 Euros inside. Another lady at church said she had some games for the kids, and when we pulled out the bag today, there was a lot of stuff in there as well. Two other ladies in the ward bought our kids gifts as well. It is a little strange to be on the receiving end of such gifts. But it has been very nice as this move was a lot more than we expected financially.

Well, I am excited for tomorrow. I'm planning on a more relaxed day than today. I want to just enjoy my time with my family. My wish will be that there will be minimal fighting between the three older kids. That is my Christmas Wish this year.