The Day Before Christmas Eve - is that the eve of Eve?

Since I didn't know Shawn would be off on Friday, the day before Christmas Eve, I had signed the boys & me up for a sing-along at the Manheim Township Public Library. I had been so impressed by the last one we had went to, and this one was for all ages. Shawn encouraged me to still go and take the older boys, and he would enjoy some time at home with baby Ryan, who wouldn't like the singing as much (and I'm sure Shawn's not all about Christmas caroling either!). So, I was excited for some time out with my older two boys. They loved it!

There were plenty of really little ones there whose parents weren't really watching them, but my boys actually liked singing the songs. They even got to jingle some bells, and I think Joshua liked the Muppet version of the 12 days of Christmas with Miss Piggy's "FIVE GOOOLD RINGS - Ba'dum'bum'bah!" He laughed each time that came around.

After the sing-along, we headed home and I started preparing our feast for the evening. This was the first time I've ever cooked a turkey by myself, and I must say that it turned out splendidly. I took out the package from the inside and smothered it in butter both inside and out. I stuck it in the roasting pan, and I followed mom's instructions of what my Grandma Moore always did for her turkeys, starting them high at 425 degrees and then turning the temperature down to the 325 for the rest of the time. I also remembered that Poppy always bastes his in butter every hour on the hour, so I did that as well. I put the "extra good" mashed potatoes from the fix-it-and-forget-it cookbook in the crock pot, so they were ready at the same time. When I took the turkey out to "rest" before serving, I stuck the rolls in the oven, and I started the stuffing and green beans. I did our traditional candle-light dinner, and the boys love to see the candles (after getting used to the idea - for awhile they ask for the lights to be turned back on).

Just as we were about to sit down to eat, our doorbell rang. It was our next-door neighbor in a panic. Their oven just quit and she had 15 people heading to her house. Was there any way she could bake her corn in my oven? I said she could do anything she needed - we were done with it! Her son who's home from college brought it over. I told them that they would be welcome to bake anything in our oven throughout the weekend that they needed. She said that she thought Paul could fix it, which is impressive, if she ran and got the part. The grandmother came over to look at the corn and brought her son - an older gentleman I had never met before, or the brother of our next door neighbor - to carry it back when it was finished. He told me how nice our house looked. He said that he used to play here when he was growing up but "it certainly looks different now!" The older woman agreed at how nice our new kitchen is. :) :) :) She also said how wonderful it smelled from our turkey. Their compliments were very sweet.

Our dinner turned out excellent. The whole house smelled so good, and we enjoyed the food. Then we got changed and headed to the Christmas Eve service at the city campus of LCBC. Unfortunately, it wasn't a great experience. The sermon was almost identical to last year on God's love for us. That was okay, but when we went back to pick up our children, there were 18 babies in Ryan's classroom, which is about the size of my dining room. I couldn't believe it! With everyone needing to pre-register their kids for that evening, how could they know that 18 babies were going to be there and not have a better plan? I was one of the first to drop off my kiddos, so I had no idea. When I got back, each helper had at least two kids they were holding, and my little Ry-guy was whimpering on the floor all alone in a diaper filled to the brim with poop. I had given him a fresh one before leaving, but at some point he must have gone and no one knew. A lady sat down one crying child to pick up mine, and he smelled SO bad. I felt bad for him as I wiped his little red cheeks. And I was FURIOUS, I must admit, when I was told that they had 18 kids in that room, ranging in age from 6 weeks to one year. I would have rather had someone email or call me and tell us that they couldn't handle the volume of children so don't come than to leave my precious little guy all-but unattended. TRULY!

Not only was there not enough help, there wouldn't even have been room for more workers. All the women there seemed very friendly, but I think there should be a better way to handle our precious little ones. I would probably start with splitting these babies into groups by ages, similar to what the main campus does. There is a big difference in a baby who can't hold up his own head to one who is crawling around, etc. BUT, I realize that takes space that may not be available.

In any event, it was the deciding factor to Shawn & I that we need to find a new church. We have been throwing the idea around for awhile. We love that LCBC is seeker-friendly. I've invited students to check it out, and I had one who said that she did and loved it. I will continue to send new believers there. But, I'm not a new believer. We've been feeling that we're not being challenged or encouraged the times that we have come recently, which has been sporatic based on the nursery room. We'd tried it a couple times where there weren't enough workers and then not gone back, either trying somewhere else or listening to the sermons at home. I never like leaving a church, particularly one where we've made friends, etc. I have enjoyed the worship and serving on the team, and I think there are a lot of great things about LCBC that we will miss. But, we've been feeling like it's time to move on and stayed behind because the kids love it so much. Now, I won't allow baby Ryan to suffer just to enjoy a church service. I read my Bible at home most every day, and I'm sure there's a church out there that needs our family's service skills where the kids will still enjoy it and Shawn & I will feel a Spirit connection.

And I hope for the other babies' sake that the church does something positive with the nursery in Lancaster. I'm sure I'm probably not the only mama who's concerned.

After we left church, we stopped at my Dad's house and took him a plate of turkey, mashed potatoes and yummy leftovers from our dinner, along with some Christmas cookies. We had also been given some "hot" smoke sausages with "extra hot" mustard that I knew there was no way we were going to eat. He seemed thankful for all of it, and the following day he told me that the plate of turkey and fixings was going to be his Christmas dinner. I was glad he thought of it as special, but it made me feel bad that he didn't have something "exciting" to do on Christmas Day. My sisters, our families, and I were going to my mom's house to celebrate Christmas night. He told me afterward how much he enjoyed it, and I was glad we had taken the time to go to his house late that night to drop it off for him to enjoy. I know he doesn't do a lot of cooking, and he seems to enjoy leftovers and the things we give him.

When we got home, we snuggled with the boys and got them to bed before turning in ourselves. Joshua proclaimed that night "It's not long now! It's almost here!" Their excitement was contagious. :) :) :)