Happy Christmas Eve!

Today was Christmas Eve and we had a busy but nice day. In the morning, we went to City Union Mission to deliver gifts and turkey dinners to two families. We hadn't done that service opportunity before, but we enjoyed it. The second family wasn't home, but we got to meet the first family. I think we will probably do this again in future years. It's not my favorite service opportunity because it's super popular so there is not exactly a high need for volunteers, but with our kids being young there aren't so many things we can do as a family so this is something we can do. Someday we can serve as a group in more high-need areas, but for now this is a positive thing we can do that actually lets our kids see that there is need right here in Kansas City.

After that, we came home and ate lunch and then had the kids take naps. Then we got them up early for Christmas Eve service at COR. We went to the 5pm service this year, which we have not been to before. I thought it might be the most popular service since there are three concurrent services at that time, but we were not prepared for how ridiculously crowded it was. We got there 15 min early and there were only a few groups of two seats left in the sanctuary, certainly nothing for five people. We ended up sitting in folding chairs in the narthex with several hundred other people. It actually ended up being fine for this year. This the first year we have kept all three kids with us during the service and they are only marginally ready for that, so it was nice to have the larger seating area that the narthex provided with a little bit less of a quiet atmosphere. And there were enough people out there that it really did feel like a church service. And they brought everyone into the sanctuary for the candle-lighting part and we had a great view of it, so it really worked out just fine. However, for next year we probably will try to get there a bit earlier if we go to 5pm again since I think next year we will be in a much better place for the kids sitting nicely in church.

After church, we came home and ate a spaghetti dinner. I love traditions and so most holidays we have the same thing every year, but I haven't settled on anything for Christmas Eve. For awhile we did seafood and we alternated between crab bisque and ciopinno, but my kids will not eat those things. In fact, the girls will also not eat pasta of any sort, but they do really enjoy the accompanying bread and I really am not open to chicken nuggets on Christmas eve, so it's not realistic for everyone to love what we are having. I am not sure if we will stick with pasta. I will have to think about it some more.

After dinner, it was pretty much time for bed. We've talked a lot about how tomorrow is Christmas, but my kids are not remotely excited about it. I am curious if they will be surprised about the presents since I kind of think they think every day is Christmas in December because we have spent the entire month doing something Christmas-related every day because of our Advent calendar.