So we always do the put on the traditional Chrismas play (which turns out to be I guess not so traditional because there are only 3 of us kids, and a lot more roles than that, especially since we always do the BofM part of it too (Samuel the Lamanite's prophecy of the birth of Christ) so that may have to be its own blog post for another day). But after the play, at the sole request of our mom, we always end up singing some Christmas songs around the piano. Mind you, the only one in our family who is not completely tone deaf is probably my brother Sean, so it's always a somewhat painful experience.
After that, we always get to open two gifts. One of which is always the stereotypical Christmas pajamas. The thing that isn't so stereotypical about them though is that for some reason, years ago, my mom decided to start using the food storage machine to can them so we actually have to open it with a can opener. Now that I am writing this, I am realizing how weird of a tradition it kind of is, but let me tell you, that it must be a good one, because the years she has forgotten or not been able to get them "canned" we've all complained. So I guess the lesson to be learned here is if you are looking for a way to spice up the Christmas Eve pajama idea, you might try putting them in a can. After opening our cans, we all get to open one more gift which is always a children's book and then Mom makes us each read them.
After that, we always put out hot cocoa and cookies for Santa (and yes, even now, when the youngest kid is 21 years old) and then we all go and sleep in my room. We used to all sleep in the guest room bed because it was the biggest, and then I got a queen sized bed in my room too and so we started just sleeping in my bed, and then as we got older, I made the boys sleep on the floor next to my bed and they would just drag in blankets etc., but now as they have gotten older as well, still unable/unwilling to stop the tradition, but also unwilling to sleep on the floor, they have started dragging their mattresses into my room. It's a tight fit, but always fun and it made it easier for us to be able to coordinate who would go into Mom and Dad's room each hour on the hour starting around 2 am to ask if it was time to get up yet.
So I realized today that I really don't have any pictures of our family at Christmas, so I'm going to have to work on that when I go home this year. This picture was the only one I could find, that was Christmas-related and really isn't that great other than the incredible bow I have on top of my head (yes it does match my shirt, thank you mom-made clothes and accessories) and the lite-brite in the background which is probably one of the greatest Christmas gifts of ALL history.
