Silent Night...

We opted to not attend a Christmas Eve service this year (first time ever). Our church had their special service on Sunday morning, and if ever a year to skip the Christmas Eve night church-dinner combo, we figured this was it. Managing to keep both kids occupied and happy through a service and a nice dinner out on the town in the evening hours would have been difficult. On top of that, my parents are only in town for a few days, so we decided to let them enjoy every moment they could at the house with Eli and Maddux.

The first gift we had Eli open on Christmas morning was the porcelain Jesus from one of our Nativity Scenes. We tried to explain to him that Jesus was/is God's gift to us. All he understood was that he got to place it in the manger all by himself. Santa brought Eli a variety of plastic food items, some pots, pans and wooden spoons, and a microwave. He was loving it. Maddux received several gifts she couldn't care less about (yet), but Eli was quick to test them out and he approved.

After lunch, Eli helped me decorate the "birt-day cake" for Jesus. His sprinkling technique is amazing :) He blew out the candle after we sang, though his forehead almost burned because I held him too close.