Settling down for the night

Well, we made it back from our Christmas Eve soiree. It was a nice little buffet style dinner with about 25 people in attendance (including 8 kids ranging in age from 6 mo old twins to my 13-yo-in-one-week daughter). Pork tenderloin was the main course, with old-fashioned baked mac and cheese, a potato casserole, collard greens and assorted appetizers rounding out the meal. Dessert was an assortment of brownies, sweet potato pie, and chocolate fondue. But the best part of all was the company. We were able to just sit and visit, swap stories and share memories with each other, all the while making new ones. Our hosts had even gone to the trouble of getting gifts for the kids.... my boys got some way cool Spiderman foam soap for their bathtub pleasure, my youngest girl got a nice art kit full of crayons and markers, and my oldest got a pampering party in a can (facial and pedicure stuff). What thoughtfulness!

The kids are finally settling in for the night. The 3 oldest are camped out in Emily's room so that whichever one of them wakes first in the morning can wake the others. Joel opted to stay in his and Noah's room tonight. Hopefully they will all fall asleep soon so we can get our elf work done and get to bed ourselves!