Christmas Eve

What a delightful, lovely, holy day our Christmas Eve was. The very last photo I snapped that day is my favorite (above). Our beautiful little precious family ~ answer to prayer ~ God's greatest blessing of which I am so grateful. 

Back to our Christmas Eve day... 

Scott's Mom and Aunt join us for a casual morning of presents and some food, conversation, and joy. 

Fun presents, silly presents, meaningful presents, and useful presents. I only captured these but we are very excited about our new cooking set, Radko ornaments (this one means so much to me because Anna was IN China during the CNY year of the dragon) (this one is so beautiful -- I just love these ornaments - they are handmade using the traditional glass blowing technique with intricate designs) 

After, I got baking and made two pies that afternoon ~ pecan, and Tennessee fudge 

This one is Abigail's favorite and it's just not Christmas without this fudgy, chocolate pie! 

We had our traditional Christmas Eve dinner early (4:00!) and headed out to Mass (one of the best parts of Christmas! 

I love these photos of my girls. I've always taken pictures at church before Mass starts. It's always so joyful. 

And then we headed home where we feasted on homemade Christmas cookies and big pot of tea. It was the perfect night. 

Other posts you might enjoy:

2023

2022

2019

2018 part 2

2017

 

Holiday Home Tour ~ Our Dining Room

I took these photos in the wee hours of the morning on Christmas Eve. They are grainy because I had to crank up the ISO but I still love them. Snow was fluttering down and it was dark outside. Candles were lit and the table was set. It was a happy morning. 

I set the table with my bright and happy Lenox Christmas china called Holly. It looked so festive on the red tablecloth 

Candles lit, ready for our Christmas Eve morning. 

I filled the china cabinet with my collection of vintage Santa mugs and added in lights to make them sparkle and shine! 

 

Holiday Home Tour ~ Our Christmassy Living Room

This is always one of the last rooms that end up on this blog because it's just not done until the third week of Advent. We don't put our real tree up until that pink candle Sunday. I think it keeps it extra special and magical that this tree is just now up. 

And oh how it is so worth it! 

I love this room at night... 

and in the middle of the day too! 

This year I added lights to the mantle garland and bows I made out of thin velvet ribbon. 

My favorite decoration in our whole house are my daughter's handprints from their preschool days. So precious to me. 

Thick French, red velvet ribbon for the scones... 

I love how I can see the huge wreath on the window outside from in our living room. 

Ironstone with greens and pinecones... 

A reminder to all in our home that we adore and honor the Christ child this season. 

This room is cozy and I can see our family room from inside. 

I adore my Christmas Hitchcock chair, hand painted. 

I found this treasure at an antique store. It is labeled on the back 1888. It is in such good condition and I will keep it here all year long. It brings me just joy thinking about how it was hanging in a house for over 100 years!