Christmas Eve

Angels from the realms of glory, 
Wing your flight o'er all the earth;
Ye who sang creation's story,
Now proclaim Messiah's birth.
Come and worship, come and worship;
Worship Christ, the newborn King. 

Once we had finished our 20th birthday celebration for our oldest, we turned our attention to Christmas Eve activities.  Grandma Cheryl asked me to play my flute with their choir for their "All is Well" piece that evening, so I practiced with her at the piano during the day. It was really pretty and reminded us, "Born is now Emmanuel. Born is our Lord and Savior. All is well, all is well."  The Christ candle is lit; our Savior is born!

It was a beautiful service and Pastor Roth preached about the "Better Name" of Jesus based on the Epistle reading out of Hebrews 1.  I love that my kids were able to worship with their Deterding cousins on the Sunday before Christmas (and most every Sunday) and their Dwyer cousins on Christmas Eve. 

We headed to Joy & Scott for our now-traditional Christmas Eve dinner of French dip sandwiches, twice-baked potatoes, salad, and mulled wine.  Evelyn made a special Christmas punch for our enjoyment also.

Once again, Dana's family was able to come, along with Grandpa Denny (Grandma Jo wasn't feeling well, unfortunately).

We continued the celebration of Calvin's 20th birthday with his extended family.

We played some games and then headed home to prepare for our Christmas Day festivities.  I bought a new book for Calvin this year to go along with his "Twas the Night Before Christmas" book that he's had since birth. This one has a better message :)  We read "The Night Before Jesus" and then got all snug in our beds.

Shepherds in the field abiding,

Watching o'er your flocks by night,

God with us is now residing,

Yonder shines the Infant Light.

Come and worship, come and worship;

Worship Christ, the newborn King.