Christmas Eve

Kids up at 6:30 am or so. Java noses the covers and climbs under them with her head by my feet and her body snuggled against mine on one side and Pops on the other. We snuggle for an hour or so and then pops gets up and later I do.
Pops makes toast and scrambled eggs for all.
Pops and Al go to Costco and then Safewayy and run into lots of other Daddies out shopping.
Ki and I bathe and I vow that today, we are getting those 2 fist sized tangles out of her hair. She says matter of factly, "You say that everyday."
I continue with my seemingly endless gift wrapping.
Ki and I clean house a bit so it doesn't look like it should be condemned.
I remember I need to send a fax for work ASAP. Ki and i take the fax, treats and Lucy and Jakes gift and head to Jennyalice's. We get to chat for 10 min and then head home as Tanyo, a dear family friend from when I was 7, has come over and Pops is home from the store.
Tanyo, Granny and I head out for a lunch of Mediterranean food. I had a panini made of lamb and pita bread with garlic fries. Yummy.
Home for a second and get a quick drive-by from Squid and kids.
Pops main gift was just dropped off by UPS. Yeah!
Over to my office with Tonya so El can pick up gifts she wrapped at my office last week. Aj joins us and we bring home more wrapped gifts. We exchange gifts with Tonya and I wrap gifts for Jane.
Jennyalcie stops by and drops off a pumpkin pie she made from scratch. She doesn't believe me when I tell her I have never made a pie crust.
We get all dressed and head to church. See some friends from Roy Cloud and lovely Mer that I use to work with. Mid-mass Aj leans over to me and says, "Can you eat a scorpion?" He later participates and sings a bit. He leans over to the bowl of holy water and dips his hand in a crosses himself. I am vigilant as I am unsure if the next move he'll make will be seeing how big a splash he can make.
We head home and Pops makes dinner of frozen pizza and lasagna. Perfect. I did NOT want to cook tonight.
I begin making tortilla soup and the fried tortillas that go in it. This is lunch for 10 tomorrow.
I bake potatoes that will become twice-baked potatoes for Xmas dinner.
We have our usual dinner at the coffee table watching Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune.
I finish making soup.
I make a batch of white chocolate covered chex mix.
Dishes, dishes. Granny helps with the dishes.
Pops has Ki call NORAD. There you can take to an Elf who will tell you where Santa is currently at in the world and when he will be at your house.
We put it on speaker phone and hear a lovely gentleman elf asking Ki where she lives and then asking her if she is going to leave a snack out for Santa. He tells her he has been working really hard all night and will be quite hungry.
"Oh, yes, we are leaving a snack out for him."
He then says that Santa will be at our house in an hour it is about 8:30. Aj's eyes widen and he runs throw his unfinished ice cream into the sink. I tell him it is okay, he has time to finish his dessert. He continues standing and rifles spoonfuls of ice cream into his mouth. He then darts into the bathroom and brushes his teeth. He cannot get into bed soon enough. I agonize him by asking him to pick out a snack for Santa. He chooses a tangerine and Ki chooses a banana.
They go to bed and I work a bit more in the kitchen.
Pops heads into the dining room to wrap gifts and emerges over an hour later.
I sit here and write and watch TV and am flanked by labs.
Now I am off to make the twice baked potatoes, finish wrapping stocking gifts and clean the dining room with Pops. Christmas is fun, also exhausting.
Peace to you all.