Mountz Memoirs: Christmas Eve & Christmas Day

The Mountz family celebrates Christmas on Christmas Eve each year and this year we celebrated from 11:00 until 4:00. I started the morning by running to the grocery store for some last minute items before making the mashed potatoes for dinner. Jon was busy working on the basement bathroom, finishing up tiling the floor. Having finally picked out a tile that appears to be wood. Jon sent it up in a staggered pattern that appears random at first but organized (not messy). I really like how it turned out. Since he was trying to finish tiling and I was running late due to the slow grocery store run we ended up being almost 40 minutes late to the family gathering. A personal worst.
Following the scheduled events at Thanksgiving, Donna felt as though a more relaxed, unstructured gathering was to be held. We basically ate, opened gifts, and just enjoyed each others company. The meal was a deep-fried turkey, mashed potatoes, spinach, salad, and three types of pies for dessert. The Mountz family exchanges names for Christmas and I had Jess and Jon had Ben. Dan had Jon's name and gave him a home brew, beef jerky, and two tickets for a movie at a Carmike. Amanda had my name and gave me a Christmas dish, Christmas dish towel, hand soap, and two colors of nail polish. Ellie received a toy from Dan and Amanda's family, a pack of adorable onesies from Peter and Brittany, and a play nativity from Doug and Donna.
Jon and I brought our dress clothes to the event so we could go straight to church for rehearsal. Our church had two services, the first starting at 5:00. Rehearsal was at 4:15 and the two services ran until 8:15. It snowed during the first service into the second causing trouble for driving but by the time the second service was over it was cleared enough for Jon and I to drive home safely.
Peter and Brittany joined us at our house for some snacks and to watch a movie after the service. I pulled out one of Jon's Christmas gifts that I had neglected to wrap (stuffed olives) along with cheese and crackers, and chocolate covered pretzels. We hung out in the basement and started watching a movie before Peter and Brittany headed home around 10:30. Jon and I went to bed after I put together the breakfast casserole for Christmas morning.

Christmas morning started around 8:00 when Jon asked me if I was ready to start Christmas. He took the egg casserole out of the oven and preheated the oven while I crawled out of bed. We read the Christmas story together from Luke before opening our stockings. Jon put the breakfast in the oven before the stockings but they didn't take long enough so we decided to go ahead and open our gifts. Ellie was still sleeping which worked out well since we didn't get her any gifts this year (sorry Ellie). Jon surprised me with a camera (yay!) and Jon's big gift was a Lionel Messi Barcelona soccer jersey. Breakfast was just about ready after gifts so I set the table and read the Christmas email from Corinne aloud. I kept breakfast simple this year by just making an egg casserole. We didn't even eat on my fine china! Goodness, I'm slacking.
After breakfast Kelly called while I was working on caramelizing the pecans for the salad and said that Corinne would be skyping the family at Mom and Dad's around 11:15 and Kelly and Josh would reveal the gender of their baby at that time. It was already close to 10:45 so Jon hopped in the shower while I cleaned up the dishes and got dressed. It was so nice to spend time talking with Corinne! We really missed having you here, Corinne, but are thankful that you are able to serve at GSF. Kelly and Josh revealed the gender of their baby using cupcakes - one cupcake had a red M&M inside for a girl or a blue M&M for a boy. Jonathan got the cupcake with the M&M in it and I thought he was just pulling our leg. We are so excited for the baby to come in May!
After talking with Corinne some more Ellie was starting to get fussy and I knew I needed to put her to sleep so we headed home. I didn't want her to fall asleep at Mom and Dad's and then I wake her up to go shower and finish the salad. When we were home Jon took a nap while I made the salad, read some Christmas cards, and showered for the day. Ellie napped a bit and we headed back to Elverson at 2:45. Kelly and Josh arrived around 3:15 and we opened gifts from Mom and Dad and each other until dinner time at 5:30. Ellie once again slept through the entire gift time which was nice! There was enough chaos with the other six children being awake and active. I was reminded why we didn't get any gifts for Ellie when she was given a doll, stuffed animal, clothes, play mat, hat, and more. My big gifts from Mom were a chandelier for our kitchen and a beautiful cross-stitching for the wall.
Grandma and Grandpa came over around 4:30 and helped occupy the children while we finished up gifts before dinner. Mom made a delicious spread of ham, scalloped potatoes, sweet potatoes (one with a pecan and brown sugar topping and the other with marshmallows for David), broccoli, rolls, and much more. I ate so much I felt sick. Kelly brought a chocolate trifle for dessert while Grandma supplied a pumpkin roll and mom had cookies. We had tea and desserts and hung around until it was time to put Ellie down for bed and Jon was also ready to sleep. He fought a cold all this holiday season - I tried my best to stay away from his germs. Something seemed to be going around the family, though, because quite a few kids had runny noses and coughs!