Christmas Eve-A Tradition Continued

As a kid, I remember Christmas Eve Day very well.  It was the day we all tried to help Mom by asking if we could get anything for her.  This was spoken through a closed door, always.  For Mom spent Christmas Even wrapping presents in her bedroom.  Dad dealt with us and Mom wrapped.  It was her job most likely because she had shopped for the gifts and knew what everyone got.  That's not to say that Dad didn't shop for us, but I remember my mom leaving to go shopping for presents while Dad watched us.  My mom seemed so happy.  Who wouldn't be happy?  She was FREE to shop without a child tagging along needing something!

It seems that Tim and I are carrying out the same tradition.  We don't spend the whole day doing this either.  Tim helps wrap the presents, but doesn't like to do it at all.  He said he likes wrapping presents for me, but not all the stuff for the kids.

This year we've added Rachel to our family so it was fun shopping for her.  We got her a stocking to hang by the fireplace and filled it like we do Ben and Sarah's stockings.  It will be fun tomorrow spending time with them after a 1 p.m. lunch together.  Then we will open presents.

We will begin our morning with cinnabuns fresh out of the oven.  Then we will chill out and wait for Ben and Rachel to arrive from her family Christmas in the morning.
We will read from the Bible and thank God for sending his son Jesus.  Then we will open gifts.

After Ben and Rachel leave to go back to her parent's house, I'll be heading over to a friend's house.  Jane didn't want to come over here for Christmas dinner, so I'm taking some to her since she doesn't have family in the area.  I asked Jane if I could come over so we could stamp and she said okay.  So that's what I will do for a while with Jane.  I hate the thought of anyone being alone on Christmas.

We went to a 4:00 p.m. service today and I really enjoyed it.  It wasn't candlelight but it was nice.

I finished wrapping Tim's presents a little while ago.  I forgot what it was like to have kids in the house at this time of year.  They don't use their own wrapping paper, they use mine.  I ended up using baby paper for some of Tim's gifts since there wasn't any Christmas paper left.  I'm not naming names, but it sure makes for interesting gifts under the tree.

Do you have any gifts that are favorites each year?  Tim and I love to receive a photo calendar for the year with pictures of events in the past year on the pages.  It really means a lot that Tim takes the time to pick out the pictures for each page.  I also love to get a little bit of chocolate.  We like to give and receive pottery mugs.  We'll see if this year we exchange them.

When Tim was growing up, they told his older sister that at midnight, the animals could talk.  She was pretty vulnerable and believed them.  She couldn't stay up to see if it was true, and her brothers laughed at her for believing it.

I saw some pictures of Christmas's past and it made me a little sad.  I loved Christmas through a child's eyes.  Seeing the excitement in them really made me happy.  I am still getting used to being a mother-in-law to Rachel.

Here are the jars of candy that I made for Ben, Rachel and Sarah.  It's supposed to look like an elf fell into the jar of candy.  I was going to try to put a gift card in each, but I didn't get around to it.

Blessing of the Day: Going to church with my family.
Thank you for stopping by.
Blessings,