Recent Eves

…Christmas and New Year's Eves, to be precise. We loved having Christmas Eve on a Sunday, but it did make things go a little differently! We had our Butterscotch Roll Party on the 23rd instead, and it was wonderful, as always—but extra wild, this year! I made my usual 21 dozen rolls, and we didn't have a single one left at the end! It's the happiest feeling of exhaustion at the end of it all. But then on Christmas Eve itself, it was quiet and calm and we could just relax! Church was wonderful. The Elf Olympics was a success (meaning it didn't end in tears and arguments about who was cheating at the Sock Game). We even managed our usual Café Rio taco night, by buying the food the day before, and reheating it Sunday evening.

I succeeded in catching 5/8ths of the family to get a picture before they changed out of their Sunday clothes! Not bad. They're the cutest 5/8ths, anyway :)

And I also managed to preserve on film the saddest moment in the world, so that's…something.

Our rainbow tree, lit and unlit

It was so snowy and quiet and magical when Sam and I went to bed that night. Just what you want Christmas Eve to be.

This year, in a moment of brilliance, I decided to do New Year's Eve pajamas for the kids instead of Christmas Eve pajamas. I had some fabric I wanted to make nightgowns out of for the girls, but there was just so much to get done before Christmas, I didn't think I could manage it! So I waited, and made them in the quiet week between Christmas and New Year's, and it was great. (The boys just got plain old store pajamas.) I used the same nightgown pattern I used last year, and I even remembered mostly how to make it! I left off the ruffles this year, although they were darling, because the girls always tuck their feet under their nightgowns when they're sitting somewhere, and they ripped through the ruffle seams a million times last year. So…tea length nightgowns it is!

And garbage truck pajamas, of course.

Our New Year's Day feast. Yum!