Christmas Anticipation

It was our turn to spend the holidays with Justin's family, but his Mom was heading to Guatamala on Christmas Day. So instead, we were very excited to pack up and head to Alton, UT. The cabin is the perfect place for a big family to spend the holidays! We were only missing Grady and Darian this year, but we still had seventeen people. You can imagine the stack of presents for that crowd. They didn't really fit under our little forest of trees. Nolan had a great time using them as giant blocks and making tunnels and pathways.

Christmas Eve started with a scare. Uncle Bryan was adding a log to the fire when a large metal bar from the back of the fireplace came loose and tumbled to the floor, scraping Bryan's shins on the way down. Ez was nearby, but luckily not in the way. Unfortunately, it landed on Ezra's dear blanket. It immediately burned a hole through it and melted through a rug. Bryan grabbed the closest thing he could find, our stockings, to quickly pick it up and put it back on the granite hearth. The stockings survived and thankfully no one was burned. Bryan's nylon pants had several melted spots. Ez was sad about his blanket but took it well. He would carry it around and sometimes he'd quickly throw it down and say, "I touched that hole!" He didn't like the feel of the black melted part. Luckily Grandma Sherri cut off the burn and sewed it up nicely once we got to St. George. I'm so glad that Bryan was careful that kids were out of the way!

Last year we enjoyed a family talent show, but we didn't feel like anyone was especially talented this year so we tried something new. It was a fun game similar to white elephants that we've played with Justin's family in the past. Here we are setting out the gifts and planning what we'd try to win.

Christmas Eve wouldn't be complete without making gingerbread houses, or in our case, a gingerbread train. There was actually a lot of whining and complaining during this activity, however, so maybe next year we'll have to make Christmas Eve complete without it! If you're wondering why Nolan has a mustache and goatee, it's because we spent much of the day filming a new edition of the Ligtermoet family nativity. Nolan was a shepherd and I was too lazy to scrub off his facial hair. It had been 7 years since we made the first movie, so some of the grandkids were wanting to do a remake. Hopefully it will be at least half as good as volume one, which was pretty amazing.

Yeah, Nolan was sucking on the red icing. Gross, but it's Christmas, right? When else would I let him do that? Some of the kids started asking around 2 p.m. to open their Christmas Eve p.j.'s. They said, "I just want to wear them all day!" Nope... we didn't allow it. They had to wait for our traditional Chinese dinner of homemade egg rolls, orange chicken, and fried rice. It was delicious, as always. There was some griping that we should have made Grandma Lillian's chop suey instead. I won't name any names (Bryan). After that, the kids could finally open their pajamas.

As the evening was winding down, Grandma Sherri made her hot wassail. I've loved this drink since I was a kid. It just tastes like Christmas! This would have been a better picture if I hadn't changed halfway into my pajamas. I guess I was just as excited as the kids!

I love Christmas Eve because kids are so eager to go to bed. And luckily our kids are still young enough that they still go to sleep easily without lying in bed with too much anticipation. Wasn't Christmas Eve the worst night's sleep as a kid? It was rough.