Happy Christmas Eve!

Toby's been getting up at 5:00 am for a while now (ugh), and while it's disappointing to never be able for Josh & I to both sleep in, you do get some nice quality time with Toby.

Anyway, today Toby & I used our special time to do a Christmas tree project. He decided it was for Santa. Jake woke up in time to be in the picture even though he didn't help with the project.

Christmas Eve

Today, I took the kids to Winchester and we went to church with my parents. It was a really nice 1/2 hour kids' "service", with a storytime and nice hymns / carols. The kids did great, though Toby was not quite himself. (due to early morning wakeup, failure to nap, and being awakened from a deep sleep en route to church).

We drove back to Westford, where Josh greeted us with the traditional luminaries in the driveway and a fantastic dinner. (garlic shrimp cocktail and salmon). The salmon was PHENOMENAL - I'd be happy to get it in a restaurant. I was going to post the whole recipe, but Josh talked me out of it because it's long (even though it's actually not that hard.) It's entitled "Salmon in Crisp Rice Paper with Sweet & Spicy Sake Essence." We will be making it again very soon.

Two notes on the drive home:

1) We were able to do the traditional Tobiason "Christmas light drive" -there's one outrageously decorated house in Littleton. I should've taken pictures, it was unbelievable.

2) Jake decided he'd been patient enough & demanded food on the way home. I had a bottle with me (prepared for use in church if necessary) so I fed it to him en route, which is not something we can usually do with our usual mode of food-delivery! I was careful, we were on secondary roads without many intersections, but still it was a little tough on the shoulder, and difficult to be sure I was finding his mouth ok (he sits directly behind the driver's seat). We did end up pulling over so the poor guy could get a decent angle on the bottle, but I was proud of my efforts prior to that. (This is the first bottle I've ever given him -other people have, but not me.)

Anyway, we had dinner & dessert (coffee from my new Keurig coffee maker - whoopie!) Then put cookies & milk out for Santa, a carrot out for the reindeer, and off to bed (for the kids).

A great day. Hopefully, we'll all sleep well to be ready for a big day tomorrow.

Here we are, about to head off to church:


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