Christmas Advent Calendar

MERRY CHRISTMAS!
I hope you all are enjoying the holiday season. My four daughters, 2 son-in-laws and 2 grandchildren are all close be for the next few days so it fun and games for us.

It's my turn to do the Christmas Advent Calendar being sponsored by Marg and Kailana.
I want to share our Christmas Eve tradition with you. It's one that's been going since I was a little girl and probably even before that.

In our church we've been encouraged to set aside Monday evenings to spend with our family. My mother and father didn't do that, but we always had Family Home Evening on Christmas Eve. When I was a child someone would read the story of Christ's birth from the bible and someone else would read The Night Before Christmas. In between stories we would sing carols. That part was very pathetic because nobody in my family could sing a single note on tune.

I will be 57 in a few days and this tradition is still carried on. Tonight children and grandchildren will gather at my mother's house for our traditional Family Home Evening. We start the evening with a potluck dinner. This year we doing Mexican foods. Luckily, over the years our singing skills have improved and many have joined the family with their beautiful voices. The young at heart enact the story of Christ's birth while someone reads it from the scriptures. We sing more carols and my youngest brother, the one with the motor-mouth, reads The Night Before Christmas. Sometimes families or individuals take a turn singing or performing for the rest of the group. One fond memory is the 3 Rasmussen brothers singing and dancing to Jingle Bells.

After the program we open the exchange presents from brothers and sisters and from cousin to cousin. And my mother opens her presents from her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She feels very spoiled and like she gets way too many presents, but we all want to see her open our presents so she has to do it while we are all there.

It's a fun evening, one I feel extremely blessed to be a part of for 57 years. I look forward to it with all the eagerness of a small child. The fact that my children and grandchildren also cherish this traditions makes it all the better.

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and that you enjoy the holiday week.