Christmas Eve is my favorite part of Christmas. It is a time of family gathering and the sharing love and food and of course, the Christmas story from Luke 2. 
The table was set, the house looked festive and all was ready for the family to arrive. 
We began with a wonderful dinner contributed by all the Nielson women. They are all such good cooks. 
The children were excited and happy. 
After dinner we convened in the family room where the children and those they drafted into action retold the Christmas Story. It was funny and got a bit wild so we had to calm everyone down with the video of Luke 2 and everyone was reverent. They surprised me at how quiet they were.
John and Chris D. were very good sports as you can see.
Christmas morning Chris and David and I went to Brett and Claudia's. They had been up early and had opened their gifts and were in their cute jammies when we arrived. Claudia had some fresh out of the oven cinnamon rolls that we all loved. We brought two big boxes for them to open. When they picked them up Matthew indicated that they had enough board games. 
As the wrappers came off, the screaming and the gleefully dancing and jumping exceeded all our expectations. I wish I had made a movie of it but if you want to experience it for yourself you'll have to call Chris who recorded it on his camera.I don't think we'll ever top that one. Below is the calm after the storm of happiness.
We left the Nielson household to go to the next Nielson household. Here we opened presents with John, Alison, Abby, Chris and Chris and Lindsay. Dad got the fixins for the famous Cincinnati 5 way Chili! Earlier Alison had made us a delicious lunch which we enthusiastically enjoyed.
This family got a Wii system so everybody was happy playing games all afternoon. 
It was a wonderful day with wonderful people that we love so much. Thanks everyone for being so great. We love you all.
3 comments:
O'kay, this was so fun. So much to comment on. First of all, Did Mary wear a white shiny skirt with fringe after baby Jesus was born? and no wonder everyone was laughing; John and Chris looked HILARIOUS as the wisemen! Your house looks absolutely beautiful, as usual. I love how you always decorate your table to lovely. Everyone looks so nice too! I need a makeover. It reminded me when I saw how great everyone looked. Thanks for sharing it all with me. It means so much.
OOps! I meant to say SO lovely, not TO lovely.
Your Christmas celebrations look and sound joyous. You are one of those people that has a gift for making everything special. I sometimes long to be a little closer to family and join in their festivities. At the same time, Jay and I are enjoying creating some of our own holiday traditions just as you and Bro. Nielson said we would. Much love!
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