CHRISTMAS EVE

Every Christmas Eve, my family has a Christmas program. This is the part of Christmas where we spend our time thinking of the Saviour and all He has done for us. We read stories, sing carols and when we were little we dressed up and acted out the nativity. With our kids, though my sister has a really cute puppet set that the kids use to act out the Christmas story. It gets a little crazy with all those kids, but they love it and Christmas is all about the kids!

Another tradition we have on Christmas Eve is to eat pizza and drink soda pop. I know, it's a little different, but it's a fun tradition and it's one that my family loves! Who doesn't love pizza and soda pop?

Christmas Eve dawned cold and snowy. I thought for sure Pete's work would be canceled again. Especially since they only had to work for five hours. No such luck. They had them come in. The roads were bad, so he took the van to the bus station and then took the bus and train in to work. He was starting to get sick with a sore throat the night before. As the day progressed he lost his voice. The snow kept coming down and they decided to let everyone out at noon. So, Pete's friend took him to the bus station, so he could bypass waiting for the train. He stood out in the freezing cold for an hour waiting for the bus. By this time he was really sick. He headed to the same day clinic and got the verdict! Strep throat! YUCK! On Christmas Eve! Well, at least he was able to get a prescription, so he could start feeling better.

This year Christmas Eve was held out my house. My sister, her family, my mom, dad, brother and Pete's mom were all there. It was so much fun to have so much family here. The kids loved having the grandparents there and they always love being with their cousins. This year for the program, Brandon was able to play a few Christmas songs for the program. He has been learning piano and he is picking up on it really fast. Kenyon, Tyler and Shannon all read some Christmas stories and then we had our puppet show nativity. It was such fun!

My poor sick baby!

I love Christmas Eve. It is so magical. I love thinking about that first Christmas when Jesus was born on to this earth. I love to remember all that He has done for us and remember that I need to be more like Him all year round.

The puppet nativity

Another tradition we have is to open one present on Christmas Eve. We always give our children something to do with bedtime. This year they got some really fun pillows.