Christmas Eve

The day before Christmas Eve, we went to Newburyport to have lunch at The Grog, one of our favorite restaurants. While we were walking through downtown to go buy Avonlea Jane a cookie, she found a "Nismass" store.

Avonlea Jane experimenting with accessories while getting ready for Christmas Eve mass

Avonlea Jane and Daddy before we headed out the door

With Mommy (our camera's light meter was not cooperating)

We had told Avonlea Jane that before it could be Christmas, it had to be Christmas Eve, and on Christmas Eve we were going to mass with our neighbors Karen and Mark. In order to get a parking spot and seats, we needed to get to mass very early, so we knew most of Avonlea Jane's patience would be gone by the time the service started.

We sat in the pew behind Karen's family, and Avonlea Jane was thrilled to see Karen but disappointed to find out Mark had stayed home. So, for the remainder of mass, every few minutes she would loudly ask, "Mark? Where's Mark?"

This dialogue was also joined by: "In church, Jane quiet!" "Baby Jesus! Baby Jesus's Mommy!" "Another song, please!" "Merry Nismass!" "All done. Ready to go. Where's Mark?"

Thankfully, it was a family mass, and we were surrounded by toddlers. I'm sure this was the first time a church choir had received an encore in the middle of mass, and at the end of the service, we heard a woman say, "I don't know who Mark is, but he was missed."

When we got home, we ate dinner and Avonlea Jane and I put on our matching Christmas pajamas because it was her bedtime. In our PJs, we headed over to Doug and Janet's house to wish them a merry Christmas. Mark and Karen were also coming over, and Avonlea Jane was very excited, because until she saw Mark, it couldn't be Christmas.