Twas the Night Before Christmas...

...and everyone is at church or work, so I'm updating my blog before they all get home.

Every fourth Sunday Jessica and I have nursery duty at church. I'd really expected it to be much more crowded on Christmas Sunday, but thankfully it was calm. Our biggest crier learned to walk, and that means he moved up to the next room. We have crawlers.

Jessica had to work until 6:00. I watched Taken 2 while I waited for her to get off.  We came home and made butter beer. Basically it's a cream soda (or root beer butterscotch float)

1 quart vanilla ice cream 
1/4 cup butterscotch syrup 
32 oz root beer 

Place 4 (16-ounce) glasses in freezer and chill for at least 20 minutes

Mix ice cream, butterscotch and soda in a blender until combined. (We added a little vanilla extract and also doubled the recipe)

Divide between the frosted glasses

I did not get pictures of every one because some people drank them before I got pictures.

Then we all watched Polar Express.

We had orange frosted rolls and cinnamon rolls too.

Then we watched Scrooge, the musical, from 1970. We didn't know what to expect, but everyone really liked it.

Rick's parents sent money for Christmas so we decided to go to Genghis Grill rather than buy presents. Sometimes shared experiences are the best presents.

We had fun choosing vegetables, meats, spices and sauce. We were very good at packing our bowls way out the top : )

A worker was helping her and tried to send her to have hers cooked when the bowl was barely half full. Yeah, right. Not for what you pay!

I don't really like pepperoni but added it to the top to prove I could get more on it.

We took the bowls up for the food to be cooked. Some of the kids noticed you could add eggs and picked up raw eggs to be cooked with theirs.

That's mine he's just adding.

Thank you Grandpa and Grandma Cassel

Tonight we will see what is in the stockings and the kids will hand out the gifts they've bought (after we watch the Nativity story). Then tomorrow (Christmas), we will open the rest. So now I am just waiting for everyone to get home.