On Christmas Eve

The yearly portraits with light crowns commenced.


One.





Two.

Three. (Goof.)

Four.

Five. (Growing up!)

Zeke loved it.

Aidan did not.

Then the children turned our Jesse tree (sorely bare this year) into a Christmas tree.

This always involves heaps of mess,

children sorting through the mess, children breaking parts of the mess, children falling off of stools into the mess, a few giggles and more than a few tears sprinkled around, with some out-and-out howling, for good measure,

and, sometimes, a bare bottom.

Afterwards, we went down to my mom's house and sang a few carols badly.  (If a thing is worth doing...)

When we drove back to our house, the girls squealed over the loveliness of the newly lit tree.

And right before bed, they stretched their stockings.

Lucinda wins the Crazy Face award.

Phew.  All done.