More from Christmas

     We sang our last concert on the 23rd, in the morning service at our church. Good friends from Edmond drove up and we had a great visit & lunch in the church basement afterwards. No one brought a camera (unfortunately!) so we have no pictures. :(
     That afternoon was spent decorating our dining room for Christmas Eve & Christmas Day, plus some last-minute shopping, wrapping & cleaning.  Next day Amelia helped me set the table for supper - a yearly tradition. Laura used to help me years ago when she was little.  For the last couple of years, Amelia has helped. I've been doing it....... well, forever it seems. :))  We always do some sort of printed paper plates/napkins for Christmas Eve Dinner - nice & easy cleanup.

My place card holder

     Dinner on Christmas Eve is always the same - started some 10-15 years ago when we began having a Candlelight Service. We have the service at 5:30 just down the street from our house. Dinner cooks while we celebrate the Savior's birth, then we eat when we get home.  We often have friends over for this meal. This year our dear friend Melinda joined us. The menu: Broccoli Quiche, Turkey Sandwiches, Grapes, Apples, Asian Pears, and Carrots Sticks & Celery. We top it off with Homemade Chocolate candy & Jelly Belly Jelly Beans. Sparkling Juice is our beverage. Yum.

     When my grandmother Wilkins passed away in 2000, she left some of her Christmas Village to us girls. We set it up that year on our Christmas Eve buffet to remember her by, and it stuck. It's now tradition.

A little nativity outside the church

The Skating Pond & Warming House have been set up every single year, even though the other pieces have been rotated. This year I considered leaving it packed in favor of something else.  I did set it up however, and then Asa remarked "This is one of my favorite things about Christmas Eve - the skating pond on the buffet!" I guess I won't ever question whether to put it up or not - at this point, it's tradition!

     After eating, we open certain gifts & stockings before settling in to watch "A Muppet Christmas Carol" (tradition). Oh, here's another tradition:

Perhaps my favorite ornament. I've hung it every year since I received it from a good friend years and years ago when we were little girls.

     I spent the night at my parents' house - sleeping on the couch - much to the delight of my littlest sister. I spent Christmas night there as well, and she camped out on the living room floor to have a "slumber party". We're not early risers on Christmas Day. We stay up so late the night before that everyone enjoys the extra rest. When we older ones were younger we always got up early - mostly at the insistence of my older brother. But the younger ones never have been ones to roust everyone out at the crack of dawn. I guess they figure the presents will still be there ..... after they've had their fill of sleep!

     We always start with the sibling exchange gifts. Megan had my name this year & bought me a pretty new scarf & remote flash trigger for my camera.  I spent a little while trying out the flash trigger with self-portraits. I was pretty pleased with what I came up with - even though the trigger didn't work as I'd hoped it would.  I ended up taking it back & getting something a little different.

     Then I went outside to do some more self-portraits with the hat & scarf set my parents bought me. Couldn't decide which way to wear my new hat - which do you like?



And this post really has gone on longer than I expected. :)  I didn't even take very many pictures on Christmas Eve or Day - Laura was "photographer for the day."  I need to see what she got!  Anyway, I'll close with a few of Amelia in her Christmas gown by the tree.