Christmas Eve 2011

 Christmas Eve 2011

Noah (3), Jackson (1), Nicholas (4), and Matthew (7) with their Mommies.  Susie & I laughed our head's off when we saw what the other was wearing! Yes, we ARE related! NO, we did NOT talk about or plan what we were wearing before hand! But, as you can see, we BOTH wore red satin shirts with black skirts, and black boots! Hilarious!

The Runte Family



Christmas Eve 2011~
This was the 1st Christmas Eve since Noah has been born that we were all WELL! What a wonderful Christmas present! Since I was a little girl, our family tradition was going to Christmas Eve service and then opening one gift before drifting off to dreamland.  Funny thing about getting nostalgic for the past---we tend to forget that the way things WERE will not necessarily replicate into the way things WILL NOW BE! Denise ended up being sick Christmas Eve, so she was unable to come to Susie's house before service. Well, I thought. At least I'll get to be with Dad on Christmas Eve and the boys can be with their Grampa on this special occasion. Well, wrong again. Even though Dad had to preach Eve service, he was also not feeling well, and cancelled. Susie called me Christmas Eve day, and said, "It looks like it's just going to be you and me, kid!"  So much for my ideas about an old-fashioned Christmas Eve! It was all we could do to get to Susie's house on time before church.  I hadn't wrapped a SINGLE present but was determined to bring all our Christmas presents for the extended family to Susie's house on Christmas Eve (and the food we were bringing, etc) so that we wouldn't be scurrying on Christmas day.  One thing I love about Susie...she's like the most easy-going, low-maintenance person alive! I, on the other hand, am not.  I'm REALLY good at being able to just live in the present moment and take all the joy in...it's just GETTING to the JOY part that I need to work on. Little perfectionist in recovery, I guess I am.  Anyway, Susie was so laid back, it made for a nice time! She had some wonderful Mike's Hard Cranberry Lemonade waiting for me (which I never tried), but it was delicious! Maybe that's why she's so laid back (kidding!) I surprised her with the boys' handprints on a canvas, which she loved, so that was a high point. Church was another story.  The boys were tired and overstimulated, and it seemed like a rather long hour! I kept telling Noah about the best part of Christmas Eve service...lighting the candle and singing Silent Night by candlelight.  Well, it finally came. Silent Night. Ahhhhh. Noah held his candle and sang the first verse. Then he was over it. At one point, he started to tilt his candle forward...almost to the point of catching the acolyte's hair on fire...but it was an official near miss! Whew! Crisis averted! We did get to hug Grampa, so that was nice. Then Noah had a meltdown about chicken nuggets. Nuggets on Christmas Evening? After church? Well, thank you sweet baby Jesus that we arrived at McDonald's 10 minutes before they closed! Another crisis averted.  At that point, Jackson was melting down, and I literally had to r-e-a-c-h back into his carseat and feed him nugget bites, with a car-full of presents.  Not pretty. THEN, we finally get home, get the boys to bed by 9:30 and realize one small important oops----WE HAVEN'T WRAPPED PRESENTS FOR THE BOYS YET! So, I ended up staying up until 1:30 am wrapping the presents. Michael helped A LOT! In fact, he stayed up LATER than me. I think he rolled in at 3 am. He stayed up an extra 1 1/2 hours wrapping my presents. I told him I didn't care at all, and to save himself for rest, but he stayed up. Sweet man. 
SO, the moral of the story? Don't set your expectations so high for the way things "should" be.  I'm a therapist. I know that. Lesson learned.  Enjoy the ride. That's what it's all about.  And, even though it didn't turn out the way I had it envisioned in my mind, it was still a memorable night! Merry Christmas Eve!