christmas eve, part one

Christmas Eve was pretty low key. My dad and sister came over to visit with baby Aleyece. Addison held her and she went right to sleep. The girls just love her so much.

That afternoon Santa went shopping for two fish. Since we had no clue what we were doing we realized at the last minute that we had to have the tank up and running for awhile before adding the fish. At 3:00, while the girls were napping, we set the aquarium up in our bathroom. The trick was keeping them out of there for the rest of the day. I told them that Michael spilled bleach and it smelled really bad so they couldn't go in there. It worked. We checked on those fish every hour to make sure they were still alive. Our goal was for them to at least make it to morning so the girls could see the fish that Santa brought them.

That evening we went to church. All of the youth were putting on a play called The Inn Keeper. I was shocked when Addison agreed to be in the play and even more shocked when they told me she would be dancing. She practiced for a month and was pretty excited, but equally nervous. She looked so cute in her dancing outfit. This was HUGE for her. My sweet, shy girl was about to be in a play. And dance! I was beaming with pride.

This was Morgan. Not very angelic looking. She didn't have a part in the actual play. The angels were the younger kids and they just had to sing a couple of songs before and after the play. She was not having it. This is the same face she had while she stood up there during the first songs. She didn't sing or even move. She just stood there in the back with her arms crossed and a sour face. I admit. I laughed. She did do better at the end when she got to stand with Addison and sing her favorite song, Go Tell it on the Mountain. I actually saw her smile.

Addison waiting patiently for her turn to dance.

We were so excited to hear that our friends James and Molly were in town for the holidays. We only got to see them for a few minutes after the show, but that's okay. It only takes a few minutes for these guys to be best friends again. I can't wait to spend some more time with them next month.

A few pictures in our church clothes before cooking baking began.

I sure do love these girls.

It took a lot of begging to get them to sit for one picture. They were so excited for Santa they could barely contain themselves. In fact, I was pretty excited as well.