christmas eve service

we had a pretty relaxed day at home today and we're basically just waiting around for it to be time to head to church.  when it was time to get ready maddux had a total meltdown because he wanted to wear an orange shirt. i came up with a compromise that he could wear an orange shirt under his red shirt. it was quite a deal.

we had to be there 30 minutes early for no apparent reason.  manning was just about done by the time the service actually began. we played around with the camera while we waited to keep the kids busy. maddux was the only one willing to take pictures with daddy and mommy though.

manning perked right up when the advent candle lighting portion began.  he also liked clapping for the singers at the very start of the service.

i did not realize it, but the preschool choir was the main event! the kids singing took up most of the service. about two minutes before the kids were called up on stage i saw a small bug bite near mason's eye. that is odd since it is winter and all. but then i realized that he was scratching his arm and had more 'bites' behind his jaw/ear. yep, he was having an allergic reaction and breaking out in hives!!  if he was just singing we might have just left, but he had a speaking line and had been practicing for a few months now.  he said that he was okay to go up on stage.  bless his heart - he tried very, very hard not to scratch the whole time he was up there but he looked pretty miserable. 

maddux on the other hand was mr. animated!  he sort of stole the show with his energetic dancing and singing.  (although, i totally missed that the boy in front of him got his hand stuck in his vest which is hysterical to watch back in the videos!) mason tried to do all of the motions, but it looked like he was afraid to bump into the kids standing a little too closely to him.  that, and the scratching. some of the videos are a little long and you might hear me singing.  we have been listening to those songs so much that i didn't really realize that i was singing along - sorry. there is also a glimpse of manning trying to do the motions along with the choir.

literally the second he started speaking my camera battery died!  noooooo!  thankfully, matt had his phone out as back up and he got it.  he had been practicing his line for so long that he was rattling it off too fast and was difficult to understand so we had been working on saying it slower today.  he might have slowed it down a little too much.  he was still quite cute.  the girl just before him had a very difficult time getting through her line and was confused, but not embarrassed, about why it was making everyone laugh.  here is mason...

they took a small break for a short sermon.  that was when manning was too full of snacks to sit still any longer (he had eaten a box and a half of raisins and two granola bars) so he started screaming and running down the aisle.  sigh.

then one more song from the choir.  madelyn went up to join them.  she is in the back to the left of the tallest girl in brown (she and the girl to her right are the student helpers in our 3-year-old room each sunday).

a quick, blurry family picture on the way out.

after church we went by one more light display to finish up madelyn's count.  thankfully, there were a lot of really great houses in this neighborhood so we picked up another two.  then this one was so good that madleyn said it could be numbers 9 and 10.  i am posting the video because of the santa giraffe for big pop and papa.

a quick stop by cvs for some calamine lotion for mason and we were headed home to finish our christmas day preparations!  love.