Christmas Eve

This year for Christmas Eve, we were home in Kennewick. It was our first Christmas in our new home, and we were all excited to relax, and not worry about traveling far distances.

For a while now, I have been wanting to do caroling on Christmas Eve like my family did when I was a kid. Our neighbors, the Jakemans, invited us over for dinner. We mentioned caroling to them as a potential activity after dinner and they were very excited to join us.

At our house before the party, the kids got to open their traditional Christmas Eve present, new jammies.

They actually got Jammies, robes and slippers.  They wanted to change right away, but Mollie thought it best if we didn't arrive for dinner in PJ's.  They put on their robes and slippers for a picture, and ended up taking the robes for the traditional enactment of the nativity.

The dinner was three families, Paynes, Jakemans and Sorensons.  We all live on the same street and so it was really close and easy. The theme was middle eastern, to be reminiscent of what the people in the Holy Land would have eaten around the time of the first Christmas night.  Well that was the theme, and we did a reasonably good job of staying close to it. David and Rebekah cooked lamb and a braided bread, which were both amazing. We brought a cheese tray with several variates, and some crackers.  If I was thinking, I would have brought goat cheese. Instead we ended up pretending that smoked Gouda was a traditional Israeli variety. The Sorensons brought some fruit and veggies.

The kids all ate at a make-shift indoor tent, which was fun.  David set up a canopy in their family room and pillows on the floor. After dinner they practiced their nativity re-enactment as the adults just chatted and relaxed.  About 7, we decided to go caroling. In my childhood years, my family would go around to neighbors, sports pals, work colleagues and others in and near our town. Since all three of the families are new to the neighborhood, and the neighborhood itself is rather new, I thought it would be great to just get to know some of our neighbors on 9th.  We managed to find a few families at home and sang a few songs at each door.  I was totally impressed by the singing ability of the kids.  They loved doing it, and they knew a lot of songs.  Of course, David and Rebecca are the Primary choristers, so they had been practicing a few Christmas hymns with the kids all month.  I was glad that it was warm enough to be outside singing for a half an hour or so.

After returning to the Jakeman's house, the kids put on their nativity, which was cute.  Harrison and Jameson were shepherds. Aliya was Mary. Calan was Joseph (and a tax collector in verse 1). Noah was baby Jesus. Bethany was the angel.

Next the Jakemans did their tradition of a scavenger hunt for baby Jesus.  The kids were suppose to be wise men, and each was to write what their gift to Jesus was.  Noah didn't quite get the idea (it was suppose to be something he could do for Jesus during the year, like be nice to his sister, or read his scriptures).  He wrote down gold.  Then they followed clues around the house for finding Jesus.  What a fun tradition it was.  Thanks Jakemans for inviting us and having a wonderful party.  When we got home, we put the kids straight to bed, so as to give Santa enough time to get to our house to deliver some gifts.  It was a very memorable and fun Christmas Eve.