Christmas 2008

My favorite part of Christmas every year is Christmas Eve. Our family has several traditions that are fun but always made the evening magical to me. To start we eat Christmas Eve dinner with candle light only...that's pretty magical when your a little kid.

Then we move to our talent portion of the evening. Melissa was our only participant this year, playing "Away in the Manger" for us all. But as everyone gets older they are more reluctant to show off.Next we move to singing carols. This year Aly played the piano and Emily led the music. We are a first verse only family so we do sing several songs.Now for the funnest tradition of all.....the Nut Gift! Mom makes pudding for dessert and places a hazel nut in just one dish. We all choose our dish, youngest to oldest, and dig in at the same time. Usually there is lots of bantering and betting on who will get the nut, who deserves the nut, and just who is the nut! As you can tell, Emily was the nut this year winning the 'extra' gift which was a bottle of sparkling cider. She also is awarded the big cow trophy that one of my brothers won in 4H one year. She will place her name on the bottom and proudly display it all year. Next year she's required to bring it to Chirstmas Eve to see who the new 'nut' is.

After the nut gift, my father always reads the Bible account of the first Christmas. After hearing it so many times, I believe that I've about got it memorized...how about you? Isn't it the best! This year John read to us out of the Book of Mormon the account of the Saviors birth. It was a really nice touch which I hope we continue.

We move to the gift opening section of the evening now. This year we started with mom and dad opening the wall hanging Melissa made them. She started it while she was in the hospital in Denver and finished putting the last button on after they opened it that night. It takes a lot of work, but it is a treasure. I think you can see it ok here.

And finally the kids open their gifts from my mom and dad, and they always open pj's. The most common but most desired Christmas gift of all I believe. You can't tell but Aly, Emily and Michael all got University of Wyoming bottoms this year. It's my mother's subtle way of letting them know where her vote is when they decide where to go to college. (Aly's already failed - but you can never give up hope she'll change her mind!) They are all holding up the ornaments they get from my parents also. It was a great evening, I loved every minute of it, and cherish the memory it has already become. We were especially blessed to have Julie Ann, Greg and Jenny with us this year. They got to see our madness up close and we hope they are still our friends. What a great beginning to a great Christmas break.