Christmas Eve

This year Christmas Eve fell on a Sunday. I think I like it that way. Christmas Eve seems to be more about the true meaning of the season than Christmas Day...at least for us. We started our day with a beautiful musical Christmas program at church.

Afterwards, we went home where there were gifts under the tree for the kids to open. They usually get to open a couple gifts on Christmas Eve in the evening, but since we wouldn't be going out today, I decided to let the kids open them earlier to be able to enjoy them all day. This year the kids all got sweatshirt blankets with their names embroidered on them. Additionally, the kids opened their traditional Christmas Eve book and the gifts from Gma Martie and Papa (which included the Spider-Man: Homecoming movie, a Christmas puzzle, and a memory game for Jonas).

We spent the rest of the afternoon simply being together as a family. Jonas helped me make cookies for Santa. Plus, we enjoyed putting the puzzle together and watching a few Christmas movies.

Finally the evening arrived. This is my favorite part about Christmas. As we have traditionally done, we set out our Luminarias at dusk. Growing up in the Southwest, this is a common Christmas tradition. I think I love it even more now that it's not so common. The meaning behind the tradition is to light the way for the Christ child to enter our home...

Jonas finally crashed as we finished setting out the luminarias. He's already got the Christmas excitement in full force!

After we prepared to have Him enter our home, we partook of a delicious "Bethlehem" dinner (utilizing a variety of foods found in the Bible).

Finally, we had our traditional Christmas Eve devotional. Danny played a couple Christmas hymns on the cello, we played a song that Amber sung and recorded, and Katie read a Christmas story tying Santa to the Christ child. This is what Christmas is all about - Christ. I love that we have traditions that bring our thoughts back to our Savior. We invite Him in, we dine with Him, and we remember Him. This is why I love Christmas Eve. Gma Penny prepared some fun songs too and gave the kids additional gifts. It was the perfect way to start our Christmas.

Dallin read the Christmas story from the Bible.