Once again, Chris picked out a gorgeous tree for us. This one was so fat, there was hardly room to walk between it and the fireplace. In fact, we shook the branches pretty much every time we passed by. Luckily, no ornaments were ever broken. Well, a few broke during the actual decorating process. But since we mostly have plastic ornaments left, that won’t be a problem much longer. 🙂 This photo was actually taken a few days before Christmas Eve. I know, because I was better at wrapping presents this year, and did a big stack every night, so I could go to bed at a somewhat decent hour before the big day.
We had our traditional “fire” of many candles going all afternoon and evening.
Every year there are new candle holders to add to the display. The kids always remember who made which one, and love seeing their creations used over and over again.
For dinner I made my mother-in-law’s traditional Christmas Eve raviolis. I have only made them a couple times before, because they are such a pain and I have so much going on. Oh, and the fact that the kids hate them. So after all that work, they don’t even want to eat them. BUT since Chris AND Celina were here, I decided that would make the work worth it since it would mean so much to both of them. Well, it would have if they had tasted decent. The first year the dough was so thin, all the filling fell out into the water. The second year, I bought ready-made dough from the store and it was so dry it cracked in places, and the filling ended up in the water. 
This time, I made the dough according to the recipe and it was so thick and tough you could barely chew it. But at least the filling stayed inside! And of course, I had to cook something completely different for the kids. I wasn’t grouchy at the time, I swear, but I did make a vow to myself to never do that again. I think it’s time to go back to ham croissants and salad.
We, of course, also had our traditional Nativity play. And can I just say that being the donkey was slightly easier this year, since Alexandra played Mary? 🙂 We were hoping that Celina would provide an extra actress, but she disappeared right at curtain time. Not sure what happened there. But we still had a great time. I think it’s just the repetition the kids look forward to. It certainly isn’t the special effects or adoring audience that keeps them anticipating it year after year!
We sang lots of Christmas carols, accompanied by Chris on his guitar, Nicholas on piano, Sarah on her violin, Noah on piano, and Sophie on her recorder. Don’t misunderstand. They didn’t all play together, although that was the original goal. They each had practiced different songs , and took turns playing them while we sang. All that driving back and forth to lessons and constant reminders to practice is finally paying off! 🙂
Then the kids set out a carrot for the reindeer and cookies and milk for Santa, along with a paper asking him specific questions and a pencil so he could write his answers while munching on the treats. Some of the questions were: 1) How many elves do you have? 2)Can you really do magic? 3) Can you really go through the chimney? 4) How old are you? 5)Do you have kids and a family? 6)Do you always have red cheeks? 7)Do you smoke a pipe? and lastly, 8) Do you go to our church?
They came up with these questions all on their own. Obviously, they have been wondering these things for a while. So cute! We also started a new tradition of letting Nick stay up a little later and watch a Christmas movie with us. This year it was “Elf”, which he thought was very funny. When he went to bed, I finished up the last of the presents and we were asleep before 2 am. Woohoo!