the final chapter

We knew our church was having identical services both on Christmas Eve/Christmas Day and New Year's Eve/New Year's Day.  We decided we would try to go to the service on New Year's Eve.  Then I looked up the time.  It started at 10:30 pm!  Hmmmm.  I still wanted to go but that is past my bedtime, let alone the kid's.  But when we found ourselves eating dinner at 8:30 pm, I decided it was manageable.  I knew we might regret it, but we made plans to keep the kids up and occupied until time to go to church.  They thought it was great fun getting to stay up until 10:30.  We packed kids Bibles and coloring books and markers since they would be in service with us.  When we arrived, I feared I had the time wrong.  There were just 10 or so cars in the parking lot of our mega-church.  The sanctuary filled up to a couple hundred people but that was all.  So nice and intimate!   The kids enjoyed the singing but midway through, E sat down and was out for the night.  David was just about to start snoozing in his chair during the sermon when they passed the communion plates.  That woke him up.  A (as typical) was going strong.  We had a countdown to midnight as the service wrapped up!  The pictures we captured after the service show the tired little crew (E still completely out), but the kids were calmer than normal and I think it might well be a tradition for the future!