Christmas Eve Eve

Counting down those last few days until Christmas. It feels like things are finally slowing down around here and the last few days have been very nice. There has been a lot of hosting of events that last couple weeks - all things that were very fun and we were very happy to do - but also draining for this introvert. : )

Yesterday we took the munchkins to see a matinee of Frozen. We loved it. There was a moment or two where the boy crawled in my lap and got a little nervous, but the girls were spellbound. And I have to say, this movie has got the best Disney soundtrack that I have heard in years. It brings out the musical theater side of me. (It's a very small side, but it pops out occasionally when watching a favorite musical.)



The kids and I also went to the science center on Friday afternoon. I had hopes of being outside and going to the zoo, but it didn't happen due to big rains that swept through. I'll be honest on this one as well. The science center isn't my favorite place to go, but my kids LOVE it. It's too dark and has too many small crawl spaces for me to really enjoy it. The last time that we went, the boy was contained in a stroller so he was a bit giddy with the freedom to explore and run around. (And then he slept most of the way home in the car. Bonus).



Also bonus: cute shot of my girls standing next to Saturn.

Today was a busy at home day. For my Christmas, T hired two very sweet and thorough women to come and deep clean the house for us. What a treat. Of the many things that are on my plate (and that of any stay-at-home mama / homeschooling mama / working mama) the really deep cleaning just doesn't happen. Counters get wiped and floors get mopped, but this was such a blessing to have everything cleaned REALLY well. While they were working, I did some work upstairs, hung out with the kids, folded laundry, etc. I had a few minutes to make some updates on the blog and if you look over to the left you should see a page for my 2013 booklist, as well as an updated Family Read-Aloud list. As I updated those lists, I was surprised at how little book blogging I've done this last year. Lost of reading ... just not lots of writing about it.



We are hosting Christmas Eve at our house tomorrow night and I'm excited to finish up food preparation tomorrow and have my family over for a few hours after our church's Christmas Eve service. It's been fun putting together a menu and getting the food ready - I really do love hosting things and putting together grocery lists and meal ideas. We aren't having a huge, heavy meal tomorrow. Several appetizers + soup and bread. On the menu:

• bbq meatballs (made by my sister, very yum)
• build your own ham and cheese sandwiches (on rolls)
• chicken nuggets tray (for the kids, mostly)
• relish tray
• creamy tomato basil soup
• cheesy potato soup
• garlic bread
• cheese bread
• this cheesecake
• cake balls (made by my sister at my girls' request, so good)

I'm looking forward to dinner tomorrow already. : )

Hope your Christmas Eve tomorrow is full of family and friends, food and fellowship. I leave you with a picture N1 took of one of my favorite elves while we were out running errands one day. I died when I saw these on my phone. The cuteness.



Happy (late) Monday.