Christmas Eve Service

Christmas Eve was not what I hoped it would be. Esteban had to work. The boys are used to having a fun filled 'party'esque type of celebration. I grew up that way too, but those days are long gone. Welcome to the world where daddy works holidays. Every year, I always look forward to the Christmas Eve service. It really helps to ground me and lifts my spirits and reminds me that Jesus is the reason for the season. Well, except for this year.

We were behind schedule getting out of the house. Then the boys got a last minute call from their mother right as we were finally ready to walk out the front door. Then Antony's shoes didn't match with his outfit and no one said anything until minutes before. When we got to the service, there was a bit of delay getting started and ALL the kids were antsy. I was expecting this from Jayden and Maya, but not from Antony and Ricardo. Then there was a really long pause between the time the youth group's band left the stage and the choir got on. I had to remind the boys that it's not easy to coordinate such a large group. Maya and Jayden carried on throughout the entire service and I just sat there stunned, barely able to listen to the service and all I could think of was it's not fair. You try so hard to make special long lasting memories and instead, you end up wanting cry like never before. Anyway, here are the few pictures I was able to manage...