Bedtime for Violet takes way too long

Anybody else who is reading this...does your 3 yr old have an hour long bed time routine that seems impossible to shorten? I've learned to start getting the kids to bed by 7:30 so she's actually sleeping by 8:30. If I start too late she is even more difficult to manage from being too tired. I get Calvin's teeth brushed, PJs on and in bed in less than 10 minutes, he's still easy. Violet is a different story. She is usually in the bathroom brushing her own teeth while I'm putting Calvin in his bed. How it goes: Ask her to come upstairs with me and Calvin. She usually collects all her "stuff" and pretends that walking up the stairs is WAY too difficult. She will lay on the middle of the steps and say its too hard. Funny how she could run and hop up them a million times throughout the day and not complain about it. If I get too far ahead of her she freaks out that I "left her behind" and she couldn't be the leader. Once she successfully makes it up the stairs, she brushes her teeth, then I do it "to make sure she did a good job". Go potty Change into PJs. I have learned to not suggest anything, anything I suggest she always says no to. She she says "Can we rock and sing and read one book?" Then we sit in the rocking chair in the corner of the room with one selected blanket and one selected book. Read book. Rock and sing songs of her choice. She usually "makes up" a song and rambles on and on about her fan, her closet, her cozy bed, the calendar she wrote on, how tall she is, and her curtains. Sing a few other songs. We pray. She kneels on a little pillow that she shoves under her bed and only pulls out so she can kneel on it with us as we pray. After prayer, getting her to climb INTO bed is always a challenge. She usually disobeys and gets a spank for not climbing into bed when we ask her, which sets her off into a hysteria of crying. Settle down after crying. Snuggle into bed, take inventory of all blankets (must have baby wrapped in purple blanket, pink blanket, flower blanket, and "moon and star" blanket). Ask "Is there going to be lightning, thunder, and beeps tonight?" This all came from a couple episodes - one night a bad storm hit and we had to take the kids to the basement a few months ago. Ever since then she's been afraid of lightning and thunder, and the beeping she is afraid of because one night at camp back in August, the fire alarm in the room next to us went off and freaked her out at night time. So....she has to clear all those in her head before she falls asleep. Once she knows that won't happen, she asks for her door to be open a little crack. We always say no, she knows this, but always asks. Then she cries that she can't have a crack. As I walk out the door she always says "mom!" as if its a big emergency so I stop and ask her what. She usually has a mundane question as her way of stalling, and if I shut the door too quick she freaks out. A snippet of conversation from tonight: Me: Violet, please stop sitting up and talking. Its time to go to sleep. Violet: But my questions keep making me talk!!!