I love Christmas Eve! Christmas day may be all about presents and Santa, but Christmas Eve is all mine! I choose to spend it reveling in family, Christ, and delicious food.
This year we selected France for our
Christmas Eve country. We had a basic turkey dinner with wild rice, croissants, and hericot vert. Nice and simple for Mommy. Our cake, so we could sing Happy Birthday to Jesus, was a Buche de Noel that I ordered from
here - gotta enjoy those perks of Jason working downtown. It was amazing! We also did a cheese plate and grapes right before bed. That was my favorite part of the night! Then Santa got
Petit Ecolier cookies as did we. Oh, I love the food on Christmas Eve.
The girls opened presents from my folks and Eliza got her favorite present of the year: Rapunzel hair. We kept up the tradition of giving parents stockings in addition to their gift. Jason and I got a firepit; and now that the air is finally clear (lots of red burn days) we are excited to set it up and roast marshmallows.
We learned that the French were the first to do nativity sets in their home. So we looked at ours and then acted out the nativity.
Eliza got to be Mary for the first time and she relished the honor. Jason shall forever be Joseph, Mom was the narrator, Dad a shepherd, and I got to be an angel with my bigger angel girls. Laura knew almost the entire angelic script from singing with the Ward Choir this Christmas - I was impressed.
Another French tradition is to light candles and put them in the window as a representation that we would have room in our home (for Mary and Joseph) and keep room in our hearts for Christ. This was a particularly tender moment and I'm planning on incorporating
these candles in our Christmas decor from now on to remind us of what we learned this Christmas Eve.
Following that lesson on Christ, we gave the girls their pictures of Christ that they selected for themselves when they met Liz Lemon Swindle. We took the time and hung them in their rooms. They love them and show them to me regularly.
Of course the girls got new Christmas Jammies to wear to bed. They were matching fleece Minnie Mouse that I purchased more than 3 months earlier. They love them.
We sang Christmas Carols, hugged, ate lots, learned, and had a truly magical night!
Ooh, I love the candles. There's a tradition I could get behind.
ReplyDeleteI love your fun Christmas Eve traditions! The food sounds so yummy! I love the candle idea (what a neat concept). I also love the pictures the girls got of Christ. I've been dying for a Liz Lemon Swindle. I'm so jealous!
ReplyDeleteIt truly was a beautiful night! It was so great being with your dear family.
ReplyDeleteFrance was such a fun Christmas Eve this year! And I totally agree, Christmas Day is for the girls but Christmas Eve is ours. I love our Christmas Eve traditions and this year's was particularly magical! Nice work, Love. Makes me excited for next year!
ReplyDeleteYou have the best Christmas Eve traditions ever! I need to come up with something fun like that to do with my kids. I am sure they will always remember your Christmas eve the most!
ReplyDeleteWhat exciting and fun Christmas traditions your family get to enjoy! The pictures of Christ are such a great addition to the girls rooms!! Awesome!
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