Christmas Eve

Like Thanksgiving, our traditions have changed here also.  In past years we have convened upon my Uncles and Aunts for a white elephant exchange and then just random chaos.  This year with my Grandmothers passing and trying to take care of all the arrangements no one was really in the mood.  (and the house is still too small for all of us).

As far back as I can remember we have had sloppy Joes for Christmas eve supper.  I have no idea why.  I think it is a lot like the old joke where the daughter, mother and grandmother don’t know why they always cut the ends of the ham before they cook it.  They finally ask the Great Grandmother who taught her daughter and each successive generation and she replies “it’s the only way we could get it to fit in the pan”.

However the sloppy Joe’s that my family makes using “great grandma’s recipe”,  is icky…….  Truth be told, on the way home from my Aunts and Uncles house we have typically stopped to pick something else up to eat.  There, I have now confessed to the horror of it.

So this year in honor of my lineage, but in an effort to make the food palatable, we had Manwich!!!!!  Yum!!!!!

We then made sugar cookies for Santa, and ate more than a few ourselves.

On the radio I had heard an add that a local church would be holding a candle light vigil and I thought that sounded like a good way to spend Christmas Eve.  Worth a try, but I think it has been scrapped from next year’s itinerary.  First, my children were shocked that you could attend church without getting dressed in”Sunday clothes’.  They were clearly not comfortable with this.  We then walked in and the two oldest said “this feels like a shopping mall to me”.  I politely informed them that it was a church and they promptly pointed out the gift shop, complete with window displays.  As I continued to argue that some religions are different and they should discontinue referring to it as a mall, my husband pointed out the cafe/espresso stand.  Not much to say after that………

 

Once inside Sariah looked at me and said “this IS NOT A CHURCH”  and yes, I capitalized those words on purpose.   The beginning was great as we sang quit a few hymns and carols and everyone really got into it.  We then proceeded to listen as the preacher and his wife discussed their sons engagement and then how they roast marshmallows over the stove.  They asked for tithes, passed out sacrament (or a version of), and then we lit our candles.  Matt couldn’t wait to get out and eventually convinced us to let him take the babies out.

Guess next year we will have to find something else to do.

From there we went down to the Dash point homes to see the lights, amazing as always.

Came home where the elves had left the Christmas eve pajamas.  Then checked NORDAC to see where Santa was.  He was too close for comfort so we encouraged the children to drink their hot cocoa quickly and promptly sent them to bed.

Nana slept on the couch so that she wouldn’t miss the festivities in the morning and was thrilled (or not so thrilled) to discover she had a companion all night.