Christmas Eve

 We went to the earliest Christmas Eve service our church offered. It was at 11 a.m. and was surprisingly full. There were many young families with small children there, older families with their visiting children and grandchildren, and folks like us who just wanted to start the day thinking of the true meaning of the holiday.

I was glad one of our church assistants was working. I was assigned her name for December's staff appreciation basket, so I was able to get it to her before Christmas Day.

Once the service was over and the basket delivered, TheHub and I went out to eat lunch. The pickings other than fast food were pretty slim since many of the local restaurants were closed. We were lucky one of our favorite meat and three joints was serving until 3. We managed to have a mostly healthy veggie meal there.

After we ate we headed to Aldi, not for groceries, but for their 2026 planning calendar. This will be the 4th year I have used one, but last year I turned TheHub on to it. They put them out for sale Dec 24 and we made a plan to be there early to get one for each of us. Mission accomplished. I have already started filling mine out at least for the dates I already have planned. 

And of course we did pick up a few groceries while there. They had a pretty decent sale on mandarin oranges and avocados, and some chocolate pralines jumped into the cart too. I also made the decision while we were there to grab a package of their brioche rolls. I decided they would be just as good as biscuits for our Christmas brunch and just needed to heat and serve would knock some time off my morning prep.

Once home we watched Christmas as Usual. It was a cute movie about clashing Christmas cultures. The lesson I learned is that there is no right nor wrong way to do Christmas.

As I am writing this it is now officially Christmas day. I need to stick the turkey breast in the crockpot and hit the sack. I am sleepy but excited about the day.

Wishing every single one of you a very Merry Christmas!