Christmas Eve 2015

We had a very low-key Christmas Eve planned with the Stacys.  It was SO GREAT to be with family for Christmas again.  Neal smoked brisket, Kari made rolls, and we just hung out with the kids all afternoon and evening.  The only complicated thing I did was make a giant bowl of gingerbread icing so the kids could make graham cracker "gingerbread" candy houses. The kids loved it of course, and the icing made a big mess, which is my favorite (deep breaths...)  After sweeping up leftover candy and dried icing, we ate a delicious dinner.  The kids acted out the Nativity, which is one of my very favorite Christmas Eve traditions.   They opened their presents from each other (cousins drew names).  And lastly they opened their new Christmas Eve pjs, another tradition from my childhood.   This Christmas season flew by at record pace, as it seems to do each year, so I tried to really soak in feelings of family, love and gratitude for my Savior on night before Christmas.  Even if there was fighting and contention as their usually is in our house, the pictures help me remember the best parts of the evening, and the glorious memories have become perfectly one-sided.