MIMI'S HARD WORK PAID OFF ONCE AGAIN, as her traditional Christmas Eve celebration was a total success! Every year, Mimi goes to extremes in order to ensure that our Christmas is as wonderful as possible. She sets up her decorations in early November, bringing the holiday spirit into every room of the house. She makes SOOOOO much food. This year, all of the women were able to pitch in and carry some of the load for her. I made a cheese ball, sausage balls, and sausage dip--that was enough for me! I can't imagine all the work that she usually has to do, so I'm glad that we were all able to help out. There were lots of sweet treats and savory finger foods, as shown in the post below. After we all eat, we have a special program and Nativity re-enactment.
Aunt Kimmy took over the program this time. She did a really great job, organizing many special numbers such as Silent Night sung by Brock Star, a poem read by her sweet Abby (from the Grinch), Jingle Bells sung by the toddlers of the clan (they even had bells to jingle and hats to wear!), Stars Were Gleaming sung by Heidi and Hannah, Away in a Manger sung by Heidi and cousin Paity, Far, Far Away in Judea's Plain sung by the men in the family, and Christmas Morning (an arrangement from Gary Jess' orchestral original) performed by myself on piano. It went very smoothly and nicely!
For the Nativity, my mom worked super hard on making it perfectly special. She organized it in a way that every girl and boy (besides Randy and cousin Brendon who were the devoted donkeys) had the chance to be Mary and Joseph. They would take turns, each Mary riding on the donkey's back with Joseph walking at her side, traveling across the room to the manger, where a doll laid wrapped in swaddling clothes. They would then pose for a picture before switching with the next Mary and Joseph. All the while, Papa had beautiful, instrumental Christmas music playing softly in the background, which was extremely touching! Oh, and that reminds me....I was the lovely angel! ;) I dressed in Mommy's long, white temple dress and played Hark, the Herald Angels Sing on my brother's trumpet loudly and clearly as an introduction to the Nativity. The rest of the time, I just stood quietly (but rather clumsily) in the background. Anyways. The kids continued to swap being Mary and Joseph until everyone had gone. Our "final" Mary and Joseph were Yan-Yan (Ian) and cousin Paity. By that point, the rest of the kiddoes changed their costumes into either sheep, shepherds, or the three wise men--all ADORABLE!!!! Everything was very reverent and sweet. Good job, Mah-May!
After all of that, we let the craziness begin!!! We all tore open our thoughtful presents from Mimi and Papa. They bought more presents than anyone could have possibly expected of them, and all were very nice. (See pic of Christmas tree to get a glimpse of how many presents there were!) In the upcoming posts, I will write about the gifts that each of us received. But since my parents won't get their own post haha: Mommy got a pretty sweater and a reflexology kit, and Daddy got two awesome sweatshirt/hoodies and a lovely pen set! Aunt Megan also got them a gift basket full of treats and Mr. Poppins penguins etc....so kind of her! They were so happy, as were ALL OF US!!
Thanks so much for another memorable, remarkable Christmas, Mimi! We are so grateful to have such fantastic grandparents!