Taking it all in stride this Christmas Eve!

Well, we woke up this morning with great expectations. Our tradition is to spend Christmas Eve with my family and Luke especially was so excited to go to Papa White's and open gifts and have dinner! So this morning we got up and began the cleaning of the house. We had realized that with gifts coming in to a full home we needed to clear some things out so we began sifting through toys and cleaning out closets to make room for the gifts. Our friend Julie had called to check on the health of the family since the stomach flu and I reported we were doing great! (My mistake) about twenty minutes later I put Ben down for a nap and fifteen minutes after that he woke up SCREAMING. I went in and of course he was covered in puke. The flu struck again! So we were homebound for the day. My dad was kind enough to bring our gifts to us since Luke was so excited and brought us dinner.

I was very disappointed not to get to be with my family for Christmas but I have to say it was a pretty nice day! We got the house cleaned, Ben slept a lot and we just spent time together. We opened my family's gifts when Ben woke up and he seems fine now. (we are praying Howard isn't next)

The night has been SO fun! Luke can bearly contain his excitement and we opened our new Christmas PJs and got baths. Then we watched a movie and made some reindeer food (oats and glitter) we put Ben to bed and Luke, Howard and I went out and sprinkled the reindeer food all over the lawn so that the reindeer would be drawn by the glitter and get energy from the oats. We then came in and got Santa's cookies ready, Luke insisted on water instead of milk and Luke wrote him a note that said "Merry Christmas Santa, Enjoy the Ride! Love, Luke" Which we got a kick out of! We then read The Night before Christmas and the story of the First Christmas to him. While we were reading, Howard's parents jingled bells outside Luke's windows and he about peed his pants! He flew to bed like never before! He is in bed right now and he randomly screams out "I am so excited!" I have to say I am so excited for tomorrow! We will probably just be staying home unless Ben is feeling 100% otherwise we will be going to Howard's parents for dinner. Luke commented that Santa must really love Jesus to bring everyone presents for His birthday! We agreed!

Tonight my heart is just overflowing! It was a trying day with the puking of a one year old and all but such a blessing to slow down and stay home and just enjoy eachother! I hope and pray that next year Happy can be a part of all of this! I can't wait until morning we are going to make jesus a birthday cake and open presents!

I hope you all have a joyous Christmas. Take the time to be still and be filled with God's love and enjoy your family! Every moment is such a precious gift!