Christmas Eve 2018

Christmas Eve day was spent in mostly quiet preparations. In the morning, Chris went on errands while the children did their music practice and I picked up some last areas around the house. Then, we all took a prescribed nap after lunch! A quiet house is like balm to the soul for this mama.

In the afternoon, the children mostly played outside while Chris and I basted the ham and chatted.

Menu . . . looks fancy but simple enough to put on the table in an hour:

• Ham
• Pasta with choose-your-own jar sauce
• Grandmother's cranberry sauce
• Mashed potatoes (Costco)
• Green salad
• Dinner rolls (Sister Schubert)

After dinner, we had a really sweet evening: children played cards, Monopoly, and Othello. Our family spontaneously sang Christmas carols together for about half an hour.

Pumpkin pie (grocery store), homemade whipped cream, homemade sugar cookies

 After the three littlest boys were tucked in (Joseph requested I read "The Jungle Book"), the rest of us watched the first half of "It's a Wonderful Life" (to be continued tomorrow night!). Then Chris and the older set were off to Midnight Mass! John (12) would be singing with the boys' choir at the 11:30 p.m. concert and then would serve the Mass as an altar boy.

Then the room was transformed before I tucked in and set my alarm for 5:30 a.m. to attend an early Christmas Mass!