We got together at my parents for Lunch. That is whole family, minus Shane. We were running a little late, so I took off with the kids towards my parents house. (we needed to take 2 cars anyways) Deni followed shortly with the food that had still been cooking. While I was waiting, I went outside and was attempting to get the packed ice off of Mom and Dad's 40 degree sloped driveway. Deni got there and I continued to scrape ice. Not too much longer, Dad came out and said we were ready to eat and that all were waiting on me, so they could say the prayer.
I was just about finished, so I finished the small section and headed in. Everyone had their arms folded and heads bowed, but I didn't hear anyone saying anything, so as I walked in, I yelled "AMEN". Everyone started laughing. Apparently, Dad had gone inside and told everyone to pretend to be praying, so I stole his thunder by yelling "Amen" when I came in the door.
We spent the rest of the afternoon visiting and playing games.
Around 6pm we all headed home to do our own family traditions.
Our Christmas Eve traditions are:
1. Open one, preselected present from under the tree (it's always a new set of PJ's for the kids)
2. Open and read the Christmas book that Mom and Dad give us. This year we got "God Bless your Way - A Christmas Journey" by Emily Freeman. This is an amazing book. If you are looking for a good Christmas book, this is it.
3. We read the Christmas story out of the Scriptures (We actually have a binder with pictures, text from the scriptures and songs that we do as a family).
4. Put the kids down for bed so that Santa can come.
