'Twas the Night Before Christmas

On Christmas Eve, we got dressed up and went to Mass. The boys were all fairly quiet and well behaved. Frances could not sit still, so she did laps in the Church Narthex. I think she just wanted all the old ladies to fawn over her darling Christmas outfit. After mass, we continued our breakfast-for-dinner tradition at IHOP. Then we came home, changed into our Christmas pajamas, and then Daddy read the bedtime story, 'Twas the Night Before Christmas. My Papa always read it to me on Christmas Eve, and my Dad read it to my children during our past Christmas Eve's spent in Michigan. Now that we are celebrating Christmas at home in Georgia, Gus is keeping the tradition alive. Just before the kids went to bed, they left out a plate of cookies and carrots for Santa and the reindeer. Henry made sure to include a note from everyone (I asked him about "Fran", and he said, "I was just too tired to write her whole name after writing everyone else's names. That's a lot of names!")

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!