You Can Lead a Child to Bed...

...but you cannot make her sleep. Especially when she's excited about the holiday coming up. And when she they use logic such as "we have to stay up late tonight so we can go to bed early tomorrow and not get waked up by Santa Claus when he comes". I gather this means that if they're completely exhausted by staying up late the night of the 23rd, by the 24th they'll be so tired that even reindeer and fat men won't be enough to wake them.

That doesn't really help us today, however, since Abby (9) and Leanna (11) got about five and a half hours of sleep last night. I was willing to let them stay up until 11 or so, which is when I put Lizzy to bed (she had been asleep since eight-thirty). Then I told them to quiet down and sleep - tomorrow's a big day. Not so much. They did keep it to a dull roar, though and that was more or less sufficient. I dozed off in front of the TV and when they started getting loud they woke me (and Lizzy) up.

At 2:55 AM.

Abby made this at Brownie Scouts

Guys, that's too late for me, and I'm an adult. At 11 and nine (and four) there is no possible way that's enough sleep for you. So we're all kind of cranky this morning (except the Hubs, whose "gift for the whole family" is in his hot little hands), although that should be mitigated somewhat by the lack of stuff that must be done today, aside from packing Abby's bag and wrapping her present to her dad). It's pretty much just getting cleaned up for Christmas Eve dinner for everyone, and toasting almonds (to be added to the salad after Abby is served) for me. And maybe we can get them to nap in the car on the way to Auntie's house for Christmas Eve dinner.

So right now the dishwasher is running, Hubs is playing with his our new toy, the older girls are watching Into The Woods, and Lizzy - being Lizzy - is bouncing from lap to lap.Good times.