Christmas Eve

I put every picture from yesterday into this post (well, except for the outtakes), even though it may not really flow.  But I’ve already taken nine bajillion pictures this morning so it’s time to move on!

I needed a few things from the grocery store so James and I went on a Kroger date.

That gave Matt a little break with just the girls and no little ankle-biter.  He was SO GOOD and SO SWEET at the store!  I think this was his first time riding in the car part of the cart, and he was so happy!  I gave him a sample piece of pineapple, and he held that thing until we got home.  He’s so funny.

Santa was getting into his car just as we were.  I tried to be very unobtrusive in taking his picture with my iPod.  :)  He drives a Dodge just like us.

Back at home I bribed the girls with painting their toes if they wouldn’t whine about what I picked out for them to wear.  {FYI I had blown my hair dry but not straightened it yet.  Don’t be scared.}

Random dress up picture.  If you look closely you can see Natalie made a pocket from the shimmery stuff on the front of her dress.  She’s got some keys and a make up brush in there.  :)

I love my new fancy camera, and I super-love my 50mm lens.  BUT it’s very hard to take a picture of the whole Christmas tree.  I was standing OUTSIDE the open window to take this one – ha!

We decided to decorate our gingerbread house yesterday afternoon.  Matt took like four million pictures, so just keep that in mind as I subject you to the next mere dozen or so.

I was pretty surprised at how easily James got into it and didn’t need to eat all the candy.

In the next pic he was having me put icing on one single sprinkle.  He CRACKS ME UP!

Mostly I stayed out of the decorating process; I was just the “glue” man.  But they needed a little help with the front of the house.

They worked together so well!

The girls made me draw a window thing on the front door, but my hands and carpal tunnels were suffering from squeezing the icing bag, so… it’s a little wonky.  What’s awesome though is how impressed they were.  I love them.

{And see what a hair straightener does for me?!}

James didn’t want to be in our “finished product” picture.  This is what he was doing.  Clearly he wasn’t finished.  :)

Natalie is so funny.  She can really make something out of nothing.  She used the discarded plastic from the gingerbread house to make a pillow and blanket for the baby.  Love her!  {They were recycled right after this picture, no worries.}

Another random dress-up picture:

My mom brought over chicken and sides for lunch – yum!!  Thank Momma!  So we opted for more a lunch-like dinner, which is easier to eat at 4:30 in the afternoon than a dinner-like dinner.  :)  {I had to be at church at 6:15 for the 7:00 service, and we wanted to come together.}

Natalie got dressed first and needed to do some twirling to try out her Christmas dress.

This is my favorite: {And the only picture I bothered to edit in this post.}

Some classic pics in front of the Christmas tree!

I LOVE this one:

Cutest boy in the universe?  I think so.

And the super-sweetest big girl!

I set my tripod up as far as I could get from the tree and then proceeded to frame up a shot as best I could.  I had to stand in this horrible crouched position because the tripod is only about at tall as my middle.  My legs were so shaky after I was done – I’m so out of shape!  Anyway, I’m so pleased with how the picture turned out!

And cropped a little:

When we got to the church Matt brought the kids to the nursery so he could go get a spot in church (and then just sit alone for 45 minutes).  I rehearsed with Sola Gratia and then went and grabbed the kids from the nursery and delivered them to Matt in the sanctuary.  It ended up being a pretty good plan!

I miss getting to sit with my family with I sing with the ladies, but I did get to watch them up in the balcony!  When it was time for Silent Night, I slipped out of the chancel area and headed upstairs to be with my family.  Joanna was VERY excited that we let her have a real candle this year.

So pretty!

James was so so so good in the service, and he loved his glow stick!  He kept calling it a night light all the way home.

It was a beautiful service with a wonderful message, full of lovely music.  I just love Christmas eve!

Back home we hung up the fancy clothes and tucked everyone into bed.  {late}

I had one last present to wrap for James, and since it was the only one, I got a little fancy with it.  {The stop sign says “James” instead of stop.}

To quote Joanna this morning: “We saw this on Pinterest!”

My annual picture of the fireplace corner of the house:  (I’m so sad the lights at the top and bottom of the tree are out!)

Here is last year’s post with all the pictures of that corner since 2006.  I love taking that picture each year!

And because I can, I snapped some in the dark pictures of the lights (on the middle of the tree!).  Fun!

For the pic above, I set up a tripod on my coffee table and used the 2 second timer so that I could press the shutter and move my hands so they didn’t shake the camera.  And I turned off every single light in the house.  Here’s what my settings were:
Aperture: f/1.8
Shutter speed: 1/13 sec
ISO: 100
Oh, and because there wasn’t anything in front of the tree for the camera to focus on so that the lights would be in the background, I turned the focus to manual so I could get the lights out of focus.  {I’m sure there’s a much simpler way to say that.}

I want to play some more, but I was pretty bushed by that point.  The tree will be up for the 12 days of Christmas, so I’ll have time to take many more pictures!

It’s time for me to dig through some Christmas morning pictures.  Hello blogger overload!!