On a snowy Christmas Eve, after driving home from our overnight excursion to the Cape, we unpacked and walked the dog, got dressed for Mass, put the lasagnas and meatballs in the oven and attended the 4pm Mass to kick off Christmas as early as possible!
The four oldest boys served (can't believe Declan will start serving this summer as well!) as the rest of us sat (masked) in the pew. We haven't been masking when it's not required, but since my dad is immuno-compromised and we knew we would be seeing him the next day, we took any precautions we could. We went home and took the perfectly cooked dinner out of the oven, threw together a burrata and arugula salad and heated up the garlic bread for a yummy Italian Christmas Eve feast.
*I'm surprised at the lack of photos I have of this day. It's my favorite day of the whole year and I think I was just enjoying the moments and forgetting to document them!*
We invited over some of our priest friends to come between their vigil Masses and Midnight Masses, and four out of six were able to come. It was awesome. I think many priests get forgotten on Christmas Eve while they are so busy with Masses and don't necessarily have time to go home to their families until the next day. So if you think of it next year, invite a priest or two over. Your kids will love seeing them "off duty" and it makes priests very approachable and they love hanging with families too. I have such fond memories of having Fr. Bill over to our home while I was growing up, he was like an uncle to us, and I hope my kids have the same experience.
Did you see that cake?
Brendan sure did!
I won a gift card on the radio to a restaurant in Providence that specializes in desserts, and decided to use it on Phil's favorite cake - Death by Chocolate. I much prefer their lemon cake, but I think everybody else was happy with the chocolate choice.
We had fun coloring, eating, laughing and singing Happy Birthday to Jesus. Maggie folded our napkins into those Christmas trees on the table - so cute! By the time everyone left and we set up the gifts, it was after midnight but so worth it.
Oh my gosh, that cake. For me that would be death by gluten. ;) And by the way, I'd never heard of Christmas Adam. Ha. We had priests over to our house growing up and we so enjoyed that. That black and white photo at church is so beautiful.
ReplyDelete