Merry Christmas, y'all!

Super-Mom, knitting Christmas presents, cooking fabulous meals for 14, singing O Holy Night with Molli at the Christmas Eve service and making people cry...she does it all. Only now, I have not had enough sleep and all my joints ache--OK, only a few. And I actually still have gifts to wrap and put in the stockings--I figured it was safe, since I was very likely to be up before anyone else, and I couldn't do it with them watching--and it was midnight before I went to bed. And I have to make two kinds of pie, from scratch of course, cook the squash, sweet potatoes, potatoes, and green beans, and roast beef.

Yesterday morning went well. I made the quiches very early in the day, right after breakfast, did a little more tidying, had a short walk with Amelia, did part of the preparation for the soup.

Ray left at 10 to meet Molli and Adrian's plane in Atlanta. I was very nervous. The weather was rainy and none of us were sure the dog would clear customs with no problem. After that, Ray had to fit everything in the car (which is why he went alone). As it turned out, they arrived early and everything went great and they were here before 3.

Meanwhile, I tasked my Dad with buying the roast and some shrimp, as well as several other things, which he did well. He arrived before them and had time to wrap a present. Amelia finalized all the decorating we were going to do and started arranging the tables. I did a little more wrapping.

Molli and I (and Ray) had a chance to run through O Holy Night. The piano was handy for that. Before we left for the service, a tray of veggies and hummus was ready, with plastic wrap, thanks to A. The chicken tagine was warming on the stove, the soup was ready for the macaroni, the dessert was started.

Ray and Molli and I left in the red car. We were there only a few minutes after 6, to run through the song with Robert, our amazing pianist. Unfortunately, the phone rang at that minute, and Ray and I both realized instantly that we had the keys to the other car, which is what Amelia called to ask. Ray headed home instantly. Molli and I went in to start rehearsing. Amelia called back to suggest they could come in Kevin's car. We were able to run through it a couple times and feel good about it. Then it was wait and worry about the rest of our group. Just after the service started, we saw Ray, but we didn't know when the rest of them had come in. It turned out, he had his phone off and did not know that they were making other arrangements. He got all the way to the house and found them gone. Amelia had left a big note. He called her and she said, "we're already on the way." A great plan, but too bad about the phone. The service was lovely, lots of carols. Unfortunately, I was a little too nervous to enjoy most of it. Molli and I had lots of compliments.

Then we rushed home, put the macaroni in the soup, reheated the chicken tagine, finshed mixing up the cake and put it in the oven. Janna's family arrived, Amelia went and got Kevin. We drank wine and ate hummus, served soup, and tagine. Janna had brought a big salad with add-ins. We had macaroons that Amelia had made (gluten-free) and an assortment of cookies, as well as Chocolate Eclpse wtih vanilla ice cream for those who wished.

They left at 10 and we read Nellie's Christmas Eve and hung the stockings. I was planning to put on Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol, but Roku/Netflix wouldn't work! A little before midnight, I had to stop.