Christmas Eve

The Christmas Countdown has ended - our activity on Christmas eve is to go to church.  We decided to go to the children's service at our church, thinking the boys might enjoy that mass more.  We've never been to our church on Christmas eve, so we weren't sure how early to go.  We opted for 45 minutes before mass started, thinking that it should be plenty of time to get a seat on the end, toward the back of the church.  We walked in and quickly snagged one of the last open pews in the back of the church.  Five minutes after we got there the ushers were having trouble finding seats for families.  10 minutes after we got there, it was standing room only in the back.

I managed to get a few photos of the boys before we ran out the door for church.


Karsten looked SO tall in these black chords.


Me with the boys


Scott with the boys.


Then we were off to church.  The boys did a great job - especially since we had to wait almost 45 minutes for mass to begin, then mass was an hour.  There was a nice family behind us that let Karsten play with their sewing cards - it could have been because he said 'mommy, what are those kids doing?'  It entertained him for a good 30 minutes - we'll definitely be investing in those for entertainment during church.

When we got home, while Scott got happy hour ready, I snapped a few pictures of the boys.  I thought this wooden candy cane would be a fun prop for the boys.  I didn't really think through that idea, because they were far more interested in playing with it than looking at my camera.




Such a handsome little guy.


I had to lure Karsten away from the cheese and crackers and Santa tracker to take some pictures.


We used the self timer on my camera to get these pictures.  I'm actually really happy with this.  While neither boy is smiling, they are both fully looking at the camera.  When you activate the self timer on my camera, it beeps a couple of times.  This beeping surprised the boys and led to the surprised looks on their faces.  Look, it even got Madison's attention!


My boys!  Don't you love how Madison decided to yawn right as this picture was taken?


I love this one!




I think they were done smiling.  Time to eat!