a christmas eve to remember

so...usually on christmas, we will make cookies, go to church, wrap gifts, and drift off into a lovely sleep while the girls have "visions of sugar plums dancing in their heads".  


this morning, i got up and got everything ready for the cookies, made the dough, made the icing and chilled the dough.  while the dough was chilling, i made 3 pumpkin pies, did a crazy incline workout on my faithful treadmill. then we went to pick up my car from the repair shop after her accident. (i missed her so much...),  stopped at chipotle (yummy...) on the way home and ate lunch.  got home and began to roll out the dough and cut out the cookies.  i pre-heated the oven while we were doing this.  after about 10 minutes of rolling and cutting, we were ready to put the first batch of cookies in.  now, let me tell you how good these cookies are.  my grandma's recipe, and it is truly the BEST cut out cookie i have EVER eaten.  so, we have all been craving these cookies since last week!  i open the oven, and i feel....nothing.  no heat..at all.  after tearing apart the oven, my husband concludes that the starter is, well not starting.  so...no cookies for us. 


we all took a few moments to mourn the loss, and then cleaned up the cookie mess, and began to wrap presents for the nieces and nephews and such. my daughter then had to be at church at 4:00 for her puppets and bells performance for the 5:00 and 7:00 services.  between services, we went to one of the only places open at 6:00 on christmas eve...wendy's.  yea, i know, a wonderful christmas eve dinner.  went back to church and watched kayla perform with her bell choir, and then home.  the girls set out (store-bought) cookies for santa, and wrote their letters and off to bed.  then began the marathon wrapping of their gifts.  it is now 11:00 pm and i am just now sitting down to relax for the first time today, but i am feeling very blessed.  


as i was wrapping gifts tonight, i began to think about how much i will miss playing "santa" when the girls are older and no longer living with us.  it changed my attitude from one of "can i hurry up and get this done so i can go to bed" to, "i want to enjoy this while i am still able".  


i am so thankful for all that my Savior has given to me, and i am looking forward to 2 days of celebrating His birth with my loved ones. i pray that all of you also have a wonderful day and are able to really enjoy the small things!  


i want to leave you all with my FAVORITE christmas song of all time.  god bless and good night!