Christmas Eve Fun

Christmas eve is always fun and this year was no exception. Actually, I've always enjoyed this "night before" event a little more than Christmas day, especially since I now have adult children that help out with making the meal. My assignment this year was tamales and a green salad. Amanda made stacked red enchiladas, Megan made chile rellenos, and Desi made her famous queso and salsa. Kaitlin brought the dessert and Grandma Whipple made her traditional banana punch. What a feast! As you can see from the picture below, the Whipple gang takes this seriously. No one would even look at the camera for a photo op! And yes, there are so many of us that we eat in shifts.

This is the second shift.

Jace, Mason, and Olivia ate in the first shift. Here you see them doing a little Jazzercise to work off a little of the first course and make room for KK's cake. Smart kids!

Jared is generous and volunteers to take two shifts.

This is Reed's first Christmas with the family and I'm not sure he's convinced it is a good thing.

Kaitlin tries to keep things positive. Reed questions that the thing on his plate is really a tamale. Seriously Reed, just put some red sauce on it and man up!

Lexi always willing to babysit little Brennen. Brennen is the best-natured little guy out there. With all the commotion, he never once cried.

Sorry Reed! You're new and it is hard to resist picking on the new guy...

...but LOOK how nice you turned out?!

After dinner comes the traditional opening of the pajamas. As you can see from the look on Jeremy's face, this is one of his favorite traditions. Still, Jeremy is a good sport and he's learned to deal with the melee.

Andrew had NO PROBLEM getting into the spirit of things.

The anticipation is mounting...

"Gotta look good for Santa..."

"Oh yeah, this is gonna work out nicely!"

Mason wastes no time at all getting in his new jammies. All the other kids follow his lead.

I wasn't quite ready to put these on. DoJo out-did himself this year by getting me footie pajamas. Who new the tent-and-awning place made pajamas?

Drew is happy. His jammies have Cars!

Jace models his version of the Cars jammies.

And the girls are pretty in pink.

This is their "silly pose."

Like I said, ALL the kids put their jammies on.

After the jammies, Lexi reads the following poem to the family:

'Twas the night before Christmas at the Whipple house

All the children were stirring, maybe even a mouse.

For Andrew has spilled the poison you see,

So the little mouse was able to play or to flee.

Everyone was gathered, all except for our Wes,

Who is serving a mission up in the Northwest.

Tomorrow we'll talk to him after lunch

And we'll be sure to tell Wes that we love him a bunch.

One other thing we'll tell him, that is not a lie,

A new baby is coming, next year in July!

Wow! Grandchild #9 on the way! That decides it for me...we're building a family room to accomodate this constantly expanding brood!

We ended our evening with a white elephant exchange. This was the only picture I got of that part of the evening since I was still in shock over my oldest daughter telling me a BALD-FACED LIE about the "appointment" she had in town on Tuesday. I had no reason not to believe her when she said that she and Jeremy had an appointment at the bank. Sheesh! I fell for it hook, line, and sinker! Amanda has never been a good liar; it shows all over her face, but she pulled that one off without a blink. I'm sure Jeremy has had a great deal of influence over her in the last 10 years. Deception or not, HOORAY!

My mother, Opal, is 87-years-old and felt that she got the best of the white elephant gifts. Grandma's dementia keeps her down-in-the-dumps quite a lot, so this smile is a treasured rarity. What a blessing this mess of a family is to me! After all this, I can't think of another thing I would want for Christmas.