Once Upon a Christmas Eve

I got an awesome gift on Christmas Eve that no one was able to wrap: I got to visit with some dear friends. Chrissy, one of great friends from high school, moved to Waco this summer. Although we kept trying to get together, the schedules never lined up. We promised to make it work before Christmas, and there is nothing quite like procrastination, right? Christmas Eve morning, mom bathed and dressed my kids (I guess I really was on vacation, huh?) while I packed as much as I could. We drove across town to meet Chrissy and her two kiddos. To make things even better? Jamie, another dear friend from that time in our lives (who now lives in Manhattan,) was visiting her family in Austin, but she drove to Waco to see us, too. (L-R: Sarah, Chrissy, Jamie)As much fun as we can have with three old friends, we spent a lot of time and energy counting and making sure we knew what the half dozen kids were doing. We had a wonderful time catching up, but we are all looking forward to getting together in April at the wedding of another friend and without distractions of little kids. I think the only time all six kids were in the same room at the same time was at lunch and for this miraculous photo.

I never thought that singing "I'm dreaming of a White Christmas," would work its magic now that we live in East Texas where snow is quite rare. As soon as we left Chrissy's, Will told me it was snowing. Although we could barely see it at the time, it was, indeed, snowing, and the few flurries quickly picked up the pace and put us in a Central Texas blizzard that followed us all the way home. The snow didn't stick where we live, but the kids go to enjoy the excitement for a bit. We got home in time to eat dinner, get Santa's cookies and Rudolph's carrots ready, and get the kids into warm beds for the night. Allen started the Christmas soup while I wrapped a few more gifts.