2013 Christmas Eve

So I'm going to try to catch up for the last week.  Christmas Eve is a big deal.  We always host, and we had about 24 this year--family and friends.  It is a lot of fun.  We always have lots of yummy food--3 kinds of soup, rolls, and lots of yummy sides with my famous Christmas Eve rice pudding which I only make once a year on Christmas Eve.  It is to-die-for.  Here is a look at our day. . . 

Christmas Eve afternoon we always go next door to our neighbors for gifts and then the kids play a little concert for them.  The kids usually always play the piano, but this year Miss O and Miss E also did a brass number which was quite impressive :)

Then later that night at our house we have another concert.  We started with the youngest kid and went to the oldest who wanted to play a Christmas song that we could sing to.  This year we had violins, piano, guitar, and the girls' brass number.  It was a pretty impressive concert.  Lots of singing--I love Christmas music!!

Mr J takes his piano very seriously :)

We had poems read--we love our sister missionaries!

and then the highlight of the evening--the Nativity play.  Mary and Joseph heading to Bethlehem.

Ben reading the story from the Bible.

Our whole cast this year--Wise men/women on the left, shepards on right, and love the sheep lower right :)

Then everyone leaves and my kids get to open one gift--new pajamas.  The girls felt like dancing after they got theirs :)

And then it was off to bed for visions of sugar plums to dance in their heads and wait for Santa to come. . .