Christmas Eve

I'm breaking our Christmas events down into two posts so it isn't too much of an overload.  We had a great Christmas season.  We decorated for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving and it was a wonderful month as we celebrated the birth of Christ.

The last few years we have done a 24 days of Christmas activity where we sing songs, watch video clips and read scriptures dealing with the events that surrounded the Savior's birth.  We did that this year and it was so fun to have most of our nights end singing an array of Christmas songs dealing with Christ.  I was excited this year to have religious Christmas songs be the favorites for the kids instead of just Frosty the Snowman and Rudolph.  Kimball really liked God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen and Rebecah liked Joy to the World, Angels we have Heard on High and anything with Hosanna in it.

Joseph was lucky to be off Christmas Eve and Christmas this year.  He works New Year's Eve and New Year's Day so he does get his share of holidays to work.  I would much rather have him work the New Year's holidays than the Christmas ones.

We decided to start a new tradition this year and go on a sleigh ride on Christmas Eve.  Unfortunately, there really wasn't any snow for a sleigh ride so we just rode in a wagon.  It was still fun though.  It was chilly, but not so chilly that we couldn't enjoy the 20 minute ride.  Everyone enjoyed it and hopefully next year there will be more snow.  We arrived early so we didn't have to wait for seats which was nice.

The boys enjoying the ride.

Group shot.

The girls enjoying the ride.

                                           

Rebecah really wanted her picture taken with the Grinch.  We read the story at least
15 times this month and watched the movie twice.  It's probably one
of my favorite Christmas stories to read.

After our ride we returned home and the kids watched a movie while I started our Christmas Eve food preparation.  We had our traditional meal around the fireplace and Christmas tree.  The kids seemed extra excited this year for Christmas so for the first time we opened a gift on Christmas Eve.  It was a family gift from my sister called Pass the Pigs.  It is a great game and we have enjoyed playing it many times already.

After our game we had a Devotional where we sang Christmas songs, read the Christmas story from the Bible, again, and used the letters M-E-R-R-Y-C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S to talk about different words that help us reflect on the Christmas season.  We also watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas and then the kids were off to bed.  We have great kids.  They went to bed at normal time and slept all night and got up at their normal time.  

Rebecah and Annette getting ready for our Christmas Eve feast.