A Cold, lovely Christmas Eve and Christmas

Happy Tuesday everyone! I hope everyone is having a good day. I thought I'd hop on here to read some blogs and update. 

I don't want to continue without expressing my sorrow to Kim over at Out My Window, whose husband Joel passed away unexpectedly on Christmas Day. My heart breaks for Kim and her family. Please keep them in their prayers.

The last time I wrote Winter Storm Elliott had arrived with way below zero temperatures, wind and some snow. Thankfully, we never lost power. However, our boiler system had a very hard time keeping up with it. The house got down to 61 degrees and it was cold. The heater did not stop running for 3 days straight. Thankfully, yesterday it got back up to 70 in the house and it feels much better in there. 

On Friday night, it was snowy and cold. We ended up ordering pizza from the pizza place close by as it was the only place open. Then we had a fun evening playing games--- Bananagrams and Scattegories.  We all camped out downstairs as it was the warmest room in the house. We had a space heater going as well. Bill slept on the couch, Jacob slept in on the loveseat, Ben slept in the recliner, Rebecca and I both slept on mattresses we pulled down from upstairs. It was a family sleepover, and it was pretty fun to sleep with the Christmas tree lit. 

Christmas Eve, we awoke to a Level 3 snow emergency. The roads were horrible and basically it was not safe for anyone to be out. In fact, we could have been arrested for being out on the roads. Bill wasn't able to go to work. We spent Christmas Eve just hanging out. Usually for Christmas Eve we go out to dinner and then look at Christmas lights. This year the roads were too bad (even though they downgraded us to a level 2, which meant roads were bad). So, I looked in our freezer and found a pack of steaks. We had air fryer steaks, mashed potatoes, sauteed green beans and pineapple. It was super yummy.

 

After dinner, the kids found a gift on their beds... new flannel pajamas, which we wore while watching Elf (a Christmas Eve tradition).  Then it was off to bed for the boys, and Rebecca and I got ready to head to midnight mass.

 

Our Christmas started with Rebecca and I attending midnight mass and singing in the choir. It was a beautiful mass. Then it was home to play Santa... putting gifts out and setting up the stockings. 

Christmas morning, the kids were excited to receive their gifts. Ben and Jacob each got a Battlebots arena from Santa. Rebecca received earrings (and notice that she has an appointment on Thursday night to get her ears pierced.) I received the James Patterson and Dolly Parton book Run, Rose, Run. Bill received a 23 and me kit to send off to do his DNA test and see if he can find some of his relatives or at least start to understand some of his background. We also received lovely gifts from each other. 

After opening gifts, we just hung out and napped. 

We then headed out to my parent's house for Christmas with the extended family. It was a wonderful afternoon! We received some nice presents, but it was so nice just to spend time together with a lovely meal. 

Overall, we had a wonderful Christmas! It was truly one of the best Christmases I have ever had. I hope you all had a lovely Christmas as well, and are getting time to rest and relax.