December 27, 2015
Christmas Eve
Reflecting on Christmas this year, I believe it will be one of my favorite memories. From the front door entry, everything looked so orderly before everyone arrived. With almost twenty people, young and old, arriving for appetizers, drinks, desserts, games, and gifts, any order was soon a thing of the past.
This year was an exceptional one. It was not cold and there was no snow. The weather here in Kentucky was in the mid-sixties, the rain had come to a halt, and the sun was shining brightly. Believe it or not, Dave, the kids, and the grandkids played corn hole on the driveway! Although the yard was saturated from the rain we have been getting, the sun dried the driveway, and it felt quite warm outside.
Lady was groomed the day before Christmas Eve, and as always, was ready for company. I know she sensed we were having another party.
The Christmas Game
The “Christmas Game”, which I explained in an earlier post, was one of the most fun things we have done. Everyone seemed to enjoy it, and perhaps it was the most fun for me! My granddaughter, Sophia, chose the gift with a Teddy Bear in it. I bought that with her in mind, but what are the odds that she chose that gift? She was so excited. She loves stuffed animals.
Each gift had one of the little ‘cheesy’ cards that I had made up earlier, except for one. That was a large holiday bag of M&M’s. On top of the bag of candy was a poem about the M on the candy. If you turn it around, the M becomes a ‘W’, an ‘E’, and then a ‘3’. It relates the candy to the story of baby Jesus, which I thought was totally appropriate on Christmas Eve. Although I created my own copy with an angel and the baby Jesus, I saw the poem on a blog. I found the poem here. ►M&M Christmas Story by Pam Ridenour
Emily chose that gift and Jon-Michael read the poem aloud. Maybe they will think of this every time they have an M&M now. I am pretty sure I will.
Everyone else read their ‘cheesy’ tags aloud when they opened their gifts, and as expected, there was a lot of laughter and there were definitely a few groans! There were a few gift cards hidden at the bottom of bags or boxes. There was also money hidden in a few. Some were found and revealed upon opening and although Alex was happy with her box of mints when she found the twenty taped to the box in the sleeve, she was even happier! The ‘cheesy’ tags can be found here ►Christmas tags.
Jingles
I hung Sophia and Aidan’s stockings on the fireplace screen the night before and apparently, “Jingles” felt left out, so he hung his there, too. The kids got a kick out of that. Tiffany, Nate, and the kids spent the night and when they got up Christmas morning, it seemed Santa had eaten some of their cookies and drank the milk. It even looked like Jingles had taken a bite of one, but he had disappeared along with Santa.
Reflecting on Christmas
We are so blessed to have my mother, our children, and grandchildren close-by. This was the first family Christmas with baby Memphis and she is a delight. Yes, reflecting on Christmas, this was one of the best so far.
