Christmas Eve!

I'm not even sure where to begin with Christmas Eve. My family has a pretty outlined schedule when it comes to this day. Every year, we tie/make a "Christmas Blanket" to give to someone on Christmas Eve. We typically go to either a hospital or a rest home. We do this in hopes of brightening someones Christmas, since their circumstances may be putting a damper on the holidays for them. This year we went to a hospital in Salt Lake County (couldn't tell you which one). We found this cute old lady who had been in the hospital for quite a number of days and didn't have too many family members near by. As good of a thing as it is, it's always a little awkward for us kids...so we pretty much make Mom do all of the talking while we just stand there and smile. We all pitch in to sing a little Christmas song (usually We Wish You a Merry Christmas), but besides that, we're always a little anxious to head on our way (how awful is that!?!).

Making Christmas treats before we leave

The next item of business on our Christmas Eve agenda is going to a movie. This year we went to The Princess and the Frog (much to the disgrace of Bryan). It turned out to be quite a cute movie, and I'd venture to say that Bryan even ended up liking it (even though he would never admit it).





Speaking of Bryan, he was feeling a little left out this year because Tyson, Camry, and I have "official" Christmas bears (which are just stuffed bears that we slept with on Christmas Eve while growing up). Kimberly and Bryan also have bears, but they are more like hand-me-down bears that have no "Christmas" resemblance. I guess this was bothering Bryan a lot more this year than it ever had (which is surprising for an eleven year old) and so we had to make a special stop at Build-A-Bear so he and Kimberly could make their own. I still believe Bryan was taking advantage of my mom's sensitivity just so he could have another Build-A-Bear (I think that makes 4 or 5 of those bears that he has now?) haha. However, whatever the reason, at least Bryan can be happy now that he has a "legitimate" Christmas bear.

Afterwords, the extended Arbon family heads to Grandpa and Grandma Arbon's for the evening program. Typically, we would eat and spend the rest of the evening there; however, recent events left Grandma Arbon restricted in a chair and she wasn't feeling up to hosting an evening of activities. A few weeks before, she had fallen on some ice and broken her shoulder. Needless to say, she was in a lot of pain and deserved a break from hosting the Christmas party. So this year, we just stopped by to say hello and to receive our Christmas stockings. We then came back to my parents house for dinner and for the Christmas program.

Cousins at Grandpa and Grandma Arbon's

Dinner at my parents house

The program went well, with each family performing some kind of musical number. We then listened/read/watched the Christmas Nativity in about every media form imaginable (don't ask me why!).

Eventually everyone leaves and we finish tidying up the house...which means it's finally time to open up our Christmas pajamas! This year was special because with our pajamas, my parents included fun reindeer pieces: a lighted Rudolph nose and antlers.

...which then leads to more pictures...

(notice Christmas bears)

The night ends with Christmas carols around the piano, a last dash to the kitchen for more treats, writing wish lists for Santa, and putting out a bowl of carrots for the reindeer.