Christmas Eve Traditions

I love the Christmas Eve traditions that we have established with the Heinisch children.  The morning is filled with baking Christmas cookies with Doug.  Candy cane cookies are a family favorite much as when I was a child.  Our afternoon is taken up with last minute shopping in town for any gifts or food needed for the big day.  Meg and I fulfilled this roll today.  It was nice having her along.  Of course that meant the guinea pigs now have Santa beards to wear for tomorrow, but we couldn't resist.  Cal and Cam took care of the last minute wrapping that needed down.  This is the first year that Cal has wrapped his gifts for everyone.  He was impressed with his wrapping skills.

At 4:30 p.m. we all gather for a picture by the Christmas tree.  I love looking back at all of these pictures to see how much the children have changed over the years.  Meg can no longer stand in front of Brett as she has gotten quite a bit taller this year.  We all then head to children's mass at 5 p.m.  For several years Meg carried the baby Jesus to the manger at the altar in the processional.  Now we just admire the little girl in that role.  During the homily Father calls up the children of the church to discuss the birth of the Christ child.  This is the first year that none of the Heinisch children made the trip up.  We all enjoyed the homily just the same.

After mass we drive around the lake to look at Christmas lights and decorations.  The past few years there have been less and less, but one neighborhood nears us still delivers and we save the best for last.  Once we return home, Godparent gifts are opened and more pictures are taken.  Doug then gets out the salami and cheese for a light dinner.  We pick a Christmas movie to watch.  In years past it has been A Christmas Story, but this year, we changed it up and chose It's a Wonderful Life.  Cookies, milk and carrots are left out for Santa and his reindeer.  The baby Jesus on our handmade Advent calendar is placed carefully in his pocket and the Heinisch family is off to bed.  This year I feel blessed that they all chose to spend Christmas Eve in our traditional manner.  I do not know how many more years this will occur, but for now I feel blessed to be part of this wonderful family.