was a wild and yet, wonderful, event. Brian and I were greeted this morning with the cries of our six year old announcing that “Lydia ‘got’ our room, just like the living room!!”  My mind took a minute to shake off the fog and comprehend what she meant. Slowly, the dawning came to me; markers. Lydia has simultaneously discovered that she can get out of her crib (darn it all) and that decorating with markers is a fabulous activity. I dragged myself out of bed and opened the door to find my nearly two year old had decorated the rug and the floor, the walls and the door and most completely HERSELF with a sharpie. Her cheeks had perfect “rosies” of BLACK and her hands were complete on both front and back! Ugh! I was imagining the Christmas scrapbook, marred by the antics of our two year old monster-baby! But Google to the rescue; did you KNOW that sharpie comes off of baby-skin with rubbing alcohol?? I am the mother of four and it took me till the last one to learn that very valuable bit of information .

We moved on with our day, which included a trip to the post office (me and everyone else in town) and a insane trip to Safeway. I have NEVER been to Safeway and spent even a minute looking for a spot. Today, I had to follow shoppers to the car and wait for them to unload just to snag one! Who waits until Christmas Eve to go to the grocery store? LOTS of people; it was a zoo. At one point a woman took over my cart, filling it with her groceries; the quarters were that close. Somehow, though, I managed to escape with my Fondu supplies and even found the long lost candy canes at Longs Drug (Candy Cane milkshakes will live on!). By the time I was back in my car, Christmas cards sent and groceries in the trunk, it was 3 minutes until the Fondu was scheduled to be served. Hmmm…perhaps not? Enter my dear Brian’s cell phone call to tell me that last night, at our midnight run to Ikea (we are playing Secret Santa with our small group to a family in need) we picked up the wrong mattress for the pull out couch and he needs to go BACK to Ikea to exchange it. Great! Well, so it goes. One unfortunate event of yelling at the kids in an attempt to determine WHO spilled a glass of orange juice on the kitchen floor and then, apparently, rolled around in it and three hours later, we sit down for our Fondu fun. Well, that’s just life in “Sweet Chaos” land.

The highlight of the evening, though, was the Christmas Eve service we hosted in our back yard. Brian and the kids had been busy the last couple of weeks, printing, rolling and delivering 50 invitations to the the neighborhood to come on over for a Christmas Eve service in our back yard. We borrowed patio heaters, built a camp fire and put on the hot chocolate and waited for the neighborhood to arrive. Eight pm was the start time and by 8: 20 we were still, patiently, waiting. We figured, well, the campfire is lovely and we can drink ALL of the hot chocolate ourselves! But by 8:40 (yeah, we live in California, time is relative) 31 of our neighbors and friends, some we knew, some we had the pleasure of meeting tonight, were settled on lawn chairs around the fire to sing Christmas hymns, listen to Brian read the wonderful children’s book “The Christmas Miracle of Johnathan Toomey” and the Christmas story out of the bible. It was a really wonderful time shared with our community. Tonight was definitely the start of a new tradition.

It is now 11:25pm and I sit here blogging. I SHOULD be wrapping or playing Santa or MAYBE cleaning up the Fondu. The kids are all sleeping, getting plenty of rest in anticipation of waking mom and dad LONG before sunrise. It is FINALLY quiet here in Chaos Land and I am happy to sit and reflect on what I have been blessed with. The love of God, the gift of His Son, a warm, safe home in a neighborhood of friends, four fantastic children and one truly wonderful husband I love with all my heart. This Christmas Eve, I am blessed indeed!- Anna