"Christmas Eve Pictures"

Here are some Christmas Eve pictures to go along with previous post.  

A sweet brother/sister moment in Mimi's chair, and of course with beloved lightsaber

This face says it all.  She was loving every second of "digging" through Mimi and Papa's Christmas tree to get to the ornaments.  This was about 1 minute before that ornament turned to DUST on the floor!  It shattered into dust particles! So sorry Mimi - I still feel really bad! 

Counting leaves on what he thought might be a four-leaf clover

I love that my kids get to run wild and free at my grandparents house. I am always scared they will break something inside (ornament = exhibit A), so we stay outside as much as we can! 

Her very 1st Christmas meal.  I think it was a hit. 

It didn't take long before she got the hang of opening gifts 

Enjoying watching brother open his gifts from E-daddy's lap 

One day I will post about EB's obsession with Star Wars, but here he is explaining the gift that he gave to me on Christmas Eve.  EB bought me a lego Star Wars sticker book in an effort to teach me more about it! I am not exaggerating when I say that I play Star Wars with him 10 times a day, and truly have no idea what I am doing - but he doesn't seem to care.  Half the time, Hans Solo, Yoda, Luke Skywalker, Darthvader, Ventress, Annakin, Obi-wan Kenobi (and every other character), could be "going to the ice cream shop" together in their ships and that suits him just fine. I have finally taken some pressure off of myself, realizing that he doesn't care at all if our game makes sense or follows the plot at all - all he cares about is if I enter his world and play "make believe" with him.  I won't lie and say that he doesn't hear, "Mommy is going to be mommy now" quite often during the day!  He would play this all day long. His imagination is in overdrive these days, and he lives in a make believe world. 

Earlier in the day, Christmas Eve morning, I was out taking a walk around the neighborhood and praying as I often do while I am out walking.  I was trying to focus my mind and my heart and gear up for the day, not really knowing what this day was going to look like for my family. It was so overcast and dreary - and so windy.  I vividly remember walking around the corner and the dark clouds were hanging so low over my head....., I even reached up thinking I could touch one. The wind was blowing so quickly that the clouds seemed to be flying - not sure I have ever seen clouds move so quickly. I remember thinking to myself this thought, "God, maybe you are moving these dark clouds away so quickly to make room for the light - YOUR light that was coming on Christmas. And maybe, just maybe, this day wouldn't be as dark for my family as I thought it would probably be. Maybe that's why the clouds are moving so quickly".  I kind of dismissed the thought and continued on my walk, and continued throughout my day. I had not thought about it anymore until we pulled up in the parking lot of our church and I saw the sun - for the 1st time all day long. It had been dreary and overcast all day long until this moment - 30 minutes before the Christmas Eve service was to begin.  And there it was......, the light - the LIGHT had come afterall and had burst through my darkness.  It was then that I remembered my thought earlier that morning on my walk.  I stood there in the parking lot trying to take it all in, in awe of God once again.  He always shows up in our darkness. 

Photos taken from the parking lot of our church, December 24, 2012 at 4:30pm