Stitches, Caroling, and the REAL baby Jesus.

It's been 5 days since the girls got out of school on Christmas break, but I feel like I just blinked my eyes and it all happened in a flash.  Since Hudson was still not feeling great on Friday because of his ear infection, we ran a few errands that had to be done and then spent the rest of the day letting him rest.

Watching a movie

Saturday I don't think I stepped foot outside of my house until close to midnight when I went out to turn off our Christmas lights.  I'm still not quite sure how I filled the day, but I know I must have gotten a lot done.

Our real Christmas fun was scheduled to being on Sunday afternoon when we were going to have some of my dearest friends (who are also our neighbors) over for a last minute Christmas dinner.  Earlier on Sunday when I was preparing some things for our little dinner party the girls had climbed up on the kitchen stools to help me out.  Next thing I knew Harper had fallen off the stool trying to climb down.  Her feet got tangled on the legs of the stool and the whole thing fell over on top of her.  She was crying and upset, but it wasn't until I got her up that I realized she had cut the back of her head.  Robby and I rinsed her head and tried to see how bad it was.  After debating about taking her in for stitches we decided to wait a little while and see how it was.  A few hours later we decided she should probably have stitches so Robby got ready to take her, even though she was begging us not to.  I know the idea of stitches in your head was probably scary for her.  However, Robby said she did great and didn't even shed a tear.  Her treat of choice after the whole ordeal was donuts, so they came home with a dozen and we all enjoyed them as she showed off the stickers the doctor gave her.

She only needed two stitches, so it was a really small cut.  She is doing totally fine and forgets that they are even there unless I need to brush her hair - then she reminds me to not brush on that part -  or if someone ask her about it.

We were not going to let that adventure stop our dinner party fun though because the kids had been looking forward to it! While the adults were eating Handley seemed to get the other kids organized to put on a performance for us that included several Christmas carols, cute costumes, and musical instruments.  That sparked the idea for us to take them caroling and next thing I knew we were making our way up and down our street with the kids ringing doorbells and singing the first part of "Jingle Bells" over and over and over.  The people who came to the door were all surprised, but extremely delighted to see our little carolers.  I dare to even say that the kids maybe had more fun doing this than they did trick-or-treating and I have to believe this will become a new tradition of ours!

Kids table

performance by the kids

Caroling!

Caroling 

On the rainy Monday morning we completed another tradition with our good friends, the Atkinsons.  Tiara and I took the kids to church for the morning children's service.  A local storyteller brings the Christmas story to life, complete with actors, crowd participation and live animals!  The kids got to see and touch animals out front before the service began and then they saw donkeys and sheep and even a real camel walking down the aisle escorted by the wise men.   After the service the kids got to go on stage and see the actors up close. While Handley and Avery were interested in checking out the Wise Men and their "gifts,"  Harper was mesmerized by the live baby playing the role of Jesus.  Come to find out, later that day when Robby got home from work and she was telling him about it, she was convinced that she had seen the REAL BABY JESUS!  Bless her heart.  She seemed a little disappointed when I explained to her that it was just a baby pretending to be Jesus.

Camel!!!

Handley and Avery saying "hi" to the Wise Men. 

We had a very low key afternoon and when the rain let up a bit we made our way outside to play a bit and to spread out the reindeer food.  After showing the girls a clip someone posted on Facebook showing Santa's reindeer pulling the sleigh around and heading towards Georiga, Harper declared, "We better go to bed RIGHT NOW!"  After quickly setting out milk and cookies, they were snoozing away in their beds.

Hudson, on the other hand, choose last night to wake up only an hour after he had gone to bed due to teething and would NOT go back to bed.  I would have just told him goodnight and put him back to bed, but I was worried he would wake the girls and we were already assembling and getting things ready.  He finally went back to bed and I went back to work.  I just love the anticipate of Christmas Eve!