All of our kids say Christmas Eve at Grandma and Grandpa's is the best thing ever. Cousins, food, presents, Santa. Actually, the food is probably torture for them, knowing that presents are coming after! But oh boy, the dinner we had this year (and every year) was just wonderful. Just a feast of the most delicious and traditional holiday food, cooked to perfection. Then we played the game where Grandma reads a story and the kids pass envelopes to their left or right. Tanner ended up with the $5, while everyone else go $1.
Jake was our musical entertainment with his clarinet solo for band. He's great!
Santa Bruce was the best Santa ever, with Coco's brand new Santa suit, acquired on clearance last year for $20. Everyone must have a Santa suit. Now we have two, although one is property of the DeBry Family, in case anyone wants to borrow it!
Santa and Mrs. Claus are delightful. We love and appreciate how hard they work for Christmas, just to see the glow in each child's face and the happiness when they're all together.
New pajamas are a tradition that we all look forward to. I think many of the kids walked away with two pairs, after visiting Grandma's store! The feeling of being wrapped in those warm, new pajamas, surrounded by the people who love you the most in life, with Christmas in the air and Santa's sleigh on the horizon, there is just no better feeling. The most-appreciated gift this year was Ptolemy's big, soft, red blanket. He LOVED it! He was just incredibly excited about it, and still loves snuggling up in it more than anything.
This is a fine bunch of people, and I'm ever grateful to be part of it.
Grandpa and the "older" girls.
I had to go back and look at my list to see why I gave Jersey a present when we didn't have her name. I had to laugh. I just started at the top, which was Michelle's family, (Jake) and went down to the bottom of our family, thus incorporating Jake's person in my list. I didn't even notice we had gifts for 8 Dopp kids instead of 7, with the Kings and Bazails all mixed in. I love the idea of being organized. My brain doesn't do that, though, but man do I try!
As always, we ended our Christmas Eve with Coco and Bill and all of us, listening to Dad read Luke 2. I love those familiar words and the feelings of safety and security, and pure love and contentment, that I feel each Christmas Eve.
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