Christmas Eve Traditions

Lots of soup to eat. Plenty of songs to sing. Several stories to share. Games to be played. Family to hang out with.

This is our Christmas Eve traditions.

As people start to arrive the games begin.

Even though there wasn't any snow left on the ground, it didn't stop us from having a snowball fight.

Before too long colored balls were being launched through the air every which way and there was no mercy shown by anyone. If you were on the grass, you were a target to be pummeled. If you had a camera in your hand, you were a target to be pummeled. Those kids were vicious!

The big kids joined in too!

It was every man for himself and you had to watch your back because the balls were coming from every direction.

Often everyone was moving around so fast I couldn't get a semi-clear shot to save my life.

After the snowball fight the munchkins went on a scavenger hunt and the adults headed in to get prepared for dinner.

Molly Kay was doing her best Rachel Ray and making some yummy squash soup for all of us to enjoy.

Aunt Linda and Uncle Glenn had their doubts as to whether or not the squash soup was suitable for consumption.

I think it passed the test!

Sweet grandma Darlene kept walking around giving everyone hugs and smiles.

Grandpa (or Poppa G as we call him) was still a little tired from his surgeries a couple weeks ago. He had part of a lung removed as well as a pacemaker put in and we were all so excited that he was feeling well enough to hang out with us.

Mom passed out small presents to each of the kids that had numbers on the bottoms of them. Starting with the number one, each child opened a gift. Each gift contained a symbol representing some part of the Christmas story and Harley would read verses from the Bible that went with it. Mom is so clever! The kids loved this and didn't want the story to end.

This Christmas we all felt especially blessed to have Dad with us. His accident only made us all appreciate and love him more than ever. He is doing great and he kept saying how blessed he was by all of us.

After the Christmas story we turned off the lights and sang songs.

Josh's guitar playing adds a lot to our plain old voices.

As the songs finished, all but the immediate family left and then it was time to get down to business. The business of game playing that is. We don't watch movies or simply sit around and talk. We are all excited to play the latest games. We played some Hill-Billy rummy and then switched it up with a few other games as well.

This is a heated game of go fish.

Before bedtime for the kiddos we break out the advent wreath.

Mom lit a candle and reviewed lessons about Jesus that the kids have learned. Then it was time for some more songs.

After the children go off to bed, the adults start to stuff stockings. It can be quite an adventure to do this while everyone is doing the same thing. Then we stay up way too late playing more games and then attempt to get some sleep before Christmas morning arrives (which is around 6:00 for the kids). All in all, it was 100% perfect!