I would like to dub Christmas Eve as “the most wonderful time of the year”. Christmas is the best, but with our traditions and time spent together, I think Christmas Eve is my very favorite. (Plus, it is the anniversary of when I got engaged, or the “tale of Christmas greed” as my husband likes to call it.) Moving on…..
This year’s Christmas Eve was nothing short of perfect. I was in charge of the Christmas message, and I had different grand kids help me take each character from the nativity scene and explain them and their significance. (I guess the noise of 14 nieces and nephews didn’t make it “perfect”, but it was pretty close.) Afterward, the cousins did cousin presents. Cade had Scout, and with Megan being Cade’s mother, they didn’t disappoint. They basically took everything from Scout’s Christmas list, and bundled it up as one huge gift.
Scary Witch Mask ….. check.
Croutons ….. check.
A santa that went “green poop” (Scout’s favorite saying with his cousins) ….. check.
And his number 1 item ….. pills and medicine just like Nonnie ….. check.
Is it scary that he was this excited? Hopefully because he just saw a load of candy, and not because he is a future addict. And because me sister does not like to do ANYTHING half way, she gave him a huge bottle of “refills”. On the front, she wrote the entire prescription that was absolutely darling.
After Scout got his present, he gave Cade his present. (This year they got each other.) With me involved, I don’t go all out the way Megan does, but if my name is attached, I do like to get something the kid will love. So Cade — our little red head — has been wanting to get a shirt that reflects that he is proud to be a ginger. (An obnoxious term that kids are using to be mean to red heads. The good news is, my nephews love their red hair, and want to proudly show it.) So when I didn’t find anything great on the internet, I found a website and made a few for him. And even a matching mini one for Scout.
I am proud to report that Cade is going to wear his shirt the first day back at school.
Afterward, we all opened our pajamas. Scout loved his, and Icka’s were a bit too small. No worries, I had already made her a “1st Christmas” outfit, after my sisters were complaining that she didn’t look Christmasy. Too bad that her Christmas outfit was too small too. (Or maybe her thighs are too big?)
As tradition goes, everyone opens P.J.s. But ever since my husband came on the scene, he has kindly explained to my mom that “no guy wants P.J.s”. So we have tried to change it up these past few years. One year we did work out shorts. Another year, we did funny P.J’s. This year, Megan, my mom and I all made custom T shirts for all of the guys. They were the total hit of the night. Each was cracking a joke about them, and they were really funny. Nathan’s was about fantasy football. B’s was about UFC. Seth’s was about diversifying your assets. Micah’s was about P90X. Brook’s was about gap insurance. And Ryan;s was about using the dictionary. They were classic, and I bet we started a new tradition.
After we get all of the kids P.J.’d up, we send them to bed to have our adult gift exchange. This year I had Megan, and got her a Cricut Expression machine. Don’t ask me how she doesn’t already have one of these??? But since she is going to be in charge of every party I ever have, I figured it was really just an investment. She was so excited and told me she has wanted on for a while. Perfect!
Too bad I hadn’t given it to her three months ago, because when I got my present, I realized that she could have definitely used it. She gave me the best gift I have ever gotten. She made me about 25 homemade family night kits. They consisted of the lesson, the game, the craft, the activity, the EVERYTHING! Not only did it completely FILL one and a half portable filing cabinets, but she gave me about 6 games that correspond with lessons, and an entire other filer that had everything I might need to use for object lessons, crafts, or games. She is OUT OF CONTROL. Mind you, she cut everything by hand, everything is laminated, and everything is completely organized perfectly. She has lessons on everything from gratitude to prayer to being an example to the sabbath day to being happy. I was beside myself when I got it, I have already gone through it tons of times to just see the work she put into it. According to Bryan, she laminated for about seven hours. Talk about one lucky recipient! And to top it all off, she said she has about six more packets she is working on for me, but just couldn’t get them done in time. Sweet!
We ended the night with the boys heading out to Harbor House, and the girls organizing the presents and each opened one gift. I say that the “girls” organized, but I take credit for this masterpiece. I am kind of a Nazi when it comes to the display. I like to have it look perfect. Not bad….huh?!
When Nonnie went into her bed, she found these kids all nuzzled in her bad. Too bad there was no room for her.
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