Christmas Eve didn’t start out so festive. I got no sleep (literally. No sleep.) the night before and was in a lot of pain first thing. That was how I ended up hanging out at the walk-in clinic around noon with my mom. Thank you for going with me, mom ❤️ We spoke to a doctor, and I admit, it went better than I anticipated. Not in the way that he fixed it or knew what was wrong, even, but he took it seriously. I half expected a doctor to just brush me off as sore and tell me to relax. He did not do that. He wrote me up a requisition for blood and xrays, but unfortunately, this is not the ideal week for it :/ and no one in office could do those things. He prescribed me some pain meds but basically told me to just keep doing what I’m doing until we can look further into whats actually happening. He told me he’d also like to refer me to a rheumatologist, but he’s going to send that to my doctor and she can take it from there. So, the ball is rolling, at least.
We got home and Brady basically tagged my mom out. He and I headed to the church to do a practice/sound check for music for the Christmas Eve service. It wasn’t a long practice, and it went smoothly! Win!
The afternoon was spent all together – Brady and I, the kids, and my mom. We’re SO happy to have snagged her for the day ❤️ She played with the kids and helped us get them suppered and organized. I was able to get my hair somewhat done, and found some clothes that fit, and Brady looked pretty fly as well. Everyone was put together, if I do say so myself, but of course, I have no proof. You’ll just have to take my word for it.
I have to say, guys. This years Christmas Eve service just hit the nail on the head. It was SO light and relaxed. People were kind of quiet, but they seemed peaceful. There were passages read from the Bible, retelling the story of Jesus’ birth, and we played songs in between chapters. Waverly doesn’t like strangers much these days, and it was after her bedtime, so to avoid anyone having to miss the service and carry a crying baby out of the service, we just brought her up on stage with us and gave her a shaker. We could hear her shaking it from time to time, but were told later that she grooved and played and was just SO charming to watch. Unsurprising. I feel so grateful to have a baby who I can trust to just sit still up there.
As with every Christmas Eve service, Brady and I discussed beforehand that we would leave as soon as everything was finished and our instruments were packed up. And as with every Christmas Eve service, we were among the very last to leave. Lol! Anyone else like that? We’re so bad at leaving. But our kids were doing SO well and were happy, and we were visiting with the other family who was last to leave. It was SO nice.
Getting home was also nice ❤️ The kids were happy, but tired, and went to bed easily. No one got up or made excuses. They just went to bed.
And then the adults had fun.
Appies and dominoes were on the list of things to do! Firstly, M&M discontinued their cheeseball, which is SO sad. I toyed with the idea of asking Carrie to make us one. Not because I’m super lazy, but because hers is the BEST. But, I didn’t. And yet, she made me one anyway as a Christmas gift. I didn’t even hint!! It was ALL her! So we had crackers and cheeseball for an appie to our appies.
But then appie night truly began. We had tempura shrimp, whisky mustard wings, mozza sticks, margherita pizza, and our newest addition to the group – bacon and beef skewers! The dominoes were purchased out of a garage sale a couple of years ago, and they’re CUTE! Bright colours, nice and heavy, etc. They’re great.
We played through the whole dominoes game (double nines, for those who are interested, lol) and laughed a LOT. I haven’t heard my mom laugh so hard that she snorted in a LONG time. We called it quits shortly before midnight.
It was SUCH a fun evening. And today has been no different. Its currently nap time over here, so I stole a minute or two to blog. But I’ll tell you more about today probably tomorrow. I have SO many blogs I have to share this season 🙂 About all the homemade gifts I made. About Brady’s beer advent gift. A present report. A look back at 2019. Resolutions and goals. All kinds of writing to do and virtually no time to do it in! But I’m trusting that you’re all busy with your own thing anyway 😉 We’ll do all kinds of catching up soon.
Merry Christmas Eve, everyone ❤️