Christmas Eve Magic

I didn't realize I hadn't written anything in so long.  December went so fast and now we are in January - already more than half way through the first week!  How does this happen?  

December was awesome.  I needed that break so badly.  Mostly because of algebra and my son in grade 9 who made me relearn it all.  I loved taking the time off to do stuff I had wanted to do for so long.  I made soap, lip balm, candles, cinnamon buns and then made gift baskets for friends and family as well as to neighbours which we hadn't connected with through covid.  It was a great excuse to make sure everyone was ok.

We did online shopping so I didn't stop foot in a mall except for maybe a small store here and there.  Kids did a secret santa and had so much fun with buying gifts for one another.  

No one connected as family except for a couple of grandparent drop ins, but no turkey meals were shared, so that was sad.  Knowing that, I knew I had to make it special for our family at least.  The German tradition is to do a meal on Christmas Eve and then open presents that night.  RM's parents had some gifts for the kids so we planned on doing that even though they weren't with us.  RM had stepped out on Christmas Eve to buy some last minute supplies for the winery so that he could work during the break.  While he was gone I was doing last minute dinner prep - beef wellington.  So delicious.  My older kids were all gone at Christmas Eve services or at work so we were waiting for everyone to come home.  Normally we eat at 5, but this was going to be a late one.  Then the snow miracle happened....it literally started to snow as if it were a movie, but this slowed all the older kids from coming home on time.  But I was determined to wait so we could all eat together.  Then this genius idea came to me.....

Because our family is so large it is hard to sit together at the table.  We have it divided into two tables most of the time, one in the kitchen for 6 and one in the family room for 4.  We often eat at the couches so we can all be in the same room.  But that was no good for Christmas Eve, so I got all the younger kids together and we moved the large table to fit with the smaller table, brought all the chairs over, set the table, lit the matches, brought out the dishes I never use from my wedding 100 years ago, and suddenly the table and atmosphere was magical.  When my husband walked in he thought he had walked into a dream.  This was his dream.  He has always wanted us to sit together and for a while we had both tables in the kitchen, but the kitchen was too small to keep that up, so we had divided it again.  But since I've rearranged the couches, there was space to keep the tables up and we haven't moved them since.  We now eat there as a family for every meal.  It's wonderful.  Because we still haven't put up different lighting other than Christmas lights, it was dim and mainly candle lit, so beautiful.  I thought RM was literally going to burst with happiness.  Finally the older kids came home and they, too, were so happy.  They had just assumed because it was so late that we would have gone ahead without them, but we had had a charcuterie board so no one was starving.  We all sat down and just felt this amazing warm, blessed feeling that can only come from God.  It ended up being a super late night, but again no one wanted the evening to end.  

The next day was Christmas, but whales had to be fed, so my son was off to Marineland to feed whales. That was fine as we had mostly celebrated the day before.  He had the best day ever as he was with all his favourite people who all love whales, too.  Marineland was turned into Narnia with the snow.  He and his pals all got amazing pictures with Santa hats on while the whales were kissing them.  So funny.

It was just generally a fantastic time off.  The new year has hit and we have big plans.....more on that tomorrow as my battery is about to die.  Praising God for His goodness to us over the last month.