Merry Christmas!

The anticipation is finally over and Christmas Day is here. I feel like we have been preparing for days and days, which I suppose we have with our paper chain Patrick has been diligently shortening since the first of the month. We began our festivities with 3:30 mass on Christmas Eve at Resurrection. Probably the shortest mass I have ever been to on that day, setting a record at under 35 minutes. The church was packed, as Father joked there was certainly "no more room at the inn". We came home for a bit and, as promised, allowed the kids to enjoy a "whole bottle of root beer" for excellent church behavior. They were very good, even caused a few laughs around us when Patrick complained rather loudly that "I can't see Baby Jesus, there are too many people!!'.

Bretz Family Christmas was celebrated following mass, and almost everyone was in attendance. We surely missed the Weiss clan, who were stuck up in Indy with sick kiddos. The Christmas treats were plentiful, as always, and the kids loved their 'pillow pals' from the grandparents. Brian and I received a restaurant gift card and a coupon redeemable for a night of babysitting...which is about the best gift we could have received! After gifts and getting jammies on, it was back home to prepare for Santa. Previously decorated cookies were set out alongside a glass of milk, and a bowl of reindeer chow. Luckily, Grammie and Papa ran into Santa this week and he asked her to send us his "magic key" that allows entry for him into homes without chimneys. After hanging that on our door, it was off to bed.

I was awoken once at 2 am, by a anxious little boy asking if Santa had come...but we were able to hold him off until after 6 am. The kids were thrilled to see their trikes, tent, and stocking full of goodies. Patrick was much more focused on simply getting through the gifts, which was quite different from Lucy who tended to get distracted by each new item. Favorites of Patrick's are the fleet of semi's, rescue helicopter, and the couple dozen of new Matchbox cars. Which he has promised NOT to take the tires off :) Lucy loves her baby, jewelry, brown boots "like Mommy's" and purse. And Daddy and I raked up pretty well, too. The kids picked out some very nice Christmas jewelry for me, and a pocket knife and charcoal starter for Daddy. Patrick made us a sweet gift at preschool, which we will always treasure. Our first gift made at school :) He was very excited, telling us we could "hang it in our room, but it's glass, so don't break it".

Today is a lazy day for us, as usual. Hence, I can get all this posted :) I have included a short slideshow as well. We don't leave our house, the kids just play all day. Tonight I am making a big turkey dinner and Daddy and I will open up a bottle of red wine to celebrate. Next week we head up to Indy to celebrate with the rest of the family over New Years. Merry Christmas to everyone, friends and family near and far. We are so blessed. Enjoy your time with those you love!