Tradition

I love Christmas Eve.

We have some of the longest lasting traditions on that night rather than any other time of the year. Of course we've added & subtracted a few as we became the parents & added the grandkids, but many still are the same as I remember growing up. This year the Wassermans & Grismers headed to the early children's Mass, so the kids & I were able to set the tables for our big meal while they were gone. It's one of the few times we pull out so many of Mom's "fancy dishes" & I love it. (Notice the little kids still used paper. ;P ) Teresa was not pleased.

We always eat soup, bread, & lots of appetizers by some sort of candlelight. The turkey rice soup Mom made was a tasty addition this year though Dad's oyster stew was missed... by some. ;)

After dinner is eaten & dishes are washed, we head upstairs to the family room. We take pictures around the tree before the chaos of gift opening ensues. I'm so glad Denise's family was able to be with us this year!

Since Grandma lived closest to us, she came to most of our Christmas Eves growing up. It was just expected, but now I realize what a blessing it was. I always think about her & miss her in a special way on that night. (some of) the grands

After photos, Clara read the Christmas story from the Bible. Then we sang Happy Birthday & the kids processed Jesus to his place in the manger."Can I start now?"

Our tree growing up was real, but once my nephew was born allergic to it, we bought an artificial one. It works just as well & less sappy! We also always had big colored light bulbs, but now they are little white ones. There are a few of the same ornaments, but most of us have taken ours from growing up to put on our own trees since we were married. Thank you for filling our tree, Mom & Dad!

Andrew & Rebecca exchanged gifts for the first time this year. They were so sweet! She gave him a card & a wallet which was perfect. He gave her a lacing mitten, some stickers, & this book. It was fun to watch them really think about giving gifts this year.

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I forgot to mention my FAVORITE gift that Rebecca gave this year to her two baby cousins on Darren's side. She made them presents all by herself! It was a green Post-it note, with curled ribbon taped to the back, & drew on the front with a pencil. Then she wrapped them. Hilarious & adorable!

We put our kids to bed at 9:00 & then had the adult gift swap. We've never tried it on my side either but it was fun. Unfortunately, the whole guy/girl gift labelling didn't really happen, so we had a couple less-than-fitting final gifts. Darren got The Ministry of Motherhood which is the fantastic book we just finished with my Bible Study group. Not exactly up his alley & I already had a copy. So, he swapped it post-game for a tin of chocolate. ;) I got a DVD of The Bells of St. Mary's. Perfect.

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Other fun gifts I was given included a pretty bracelet & Prize-a-Day calendar from my parents, Bananagrams from the kids (super fun!), an Our Lady of Guadalupe ornament from my Goddaughter Julia, & a VIDEO CAMERA from Darren! Woohoo & what a surprise! I'm so excited to have one that doesn't use tapes. (I hope to show you more videos here & make montages for each of our kids to have of them growing up without having to watch tape after tape after tape.) Thank you, everyone!

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My dad has sung in the men's choir at St. Francis for over 30...40?...years. They always sing at the midnight Mass. I haven't gone much since we had kids (staying up past midnight when we're not in our own beds? on purpose?) but I miss it. They sound so beautiful & St. Francis is especially gorgeous when they flip on all the extra lights during the Gloria. We'd sing all the way home in the van, & then sneak goodies & the shrimp platter out of the fridge. We'd stay up playing games & chatting until 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning. Such memories! This year, I slept. Well, as much as the kids let me. ;)