Christmas Traditions

hello my lovelies! 

Today I thought I'd come at you with a good ol' Christmas-y post! *winks* So, I'll be telling you all about our Christmas Eve traditions and Christmas day traditions. *gets all excited* 

Now, grab a cup of hot chocolate, with some marshmallows and a candy cane sticking through and enjoy yourself as I tell you about our family traditions. *gets all cozy* 

(off Pinterest) 

Christmas Eve:

The day is spent getting ready for the evening mostly. We prepare some platers of goodies for the evening and my mom makes French bread (unless she's made it early. then we take it out of the freezer).
Then we mostly laze around for the rest of the day. Us girls take showers and get ourselves all prettied up and then we wait for supper time. 
Felicity and Josiah come over for supper and we have a delicious supper of Horseshoe Sandwiches. (it's a very good meal. take my word for it) After we enjoy our meal and the dishes are done we all gather around the table and decorate gingerbread houses together. 
Then into the living room we go and open the gifts sent from my grandparents in NH. Most every year Grandma sends us a new puzzle so then after the gifts are open we do it. Some years she hasn't sent us one (but she almost always does xP) and then we do one of our 1000 piece, or more, winter puzzles. It doesn't take us too terribly long and we always finish it. 
Then pictures are taken of the puzzle and the goodies are brought out. (unless we're still too full from supper xD) There is always sure to be found on our platter: my mom's mocha truffles, candy cane cookies, candy cane sugar cookies, and shortbread. 
We have to have some salty goodies too otherwise we'd all get too sweeted out xD So then there is cheese fondue with French bread, and a salty snack mix. (we might not do cheese fondue this year though)
Then, with our plates of goodies we head into the living room and get all cozy and put "It's A Wonderful Life" going. *happy sighs* 
Then we go to bed and the parents wait until we're all in our rooms and then they go and fill our stockings. 

Christmas Eve of last year...

Christmas Day:

My eyes pop open and a shiver of excitement rushes up my spin. It's Christmas day! 
I always roll over and look at my clock, sometimes it's too early and I have to lay there until the agreed time to get up... 6:00 a.m.
Then, with excitement filled up within me, I slip out of bed, grab a blanket and wrap it around my shoulders. I tiptoe to Chancy's room and wake him up. Then, into the living room I go, where the darkness fills the house. I blindly, find the plug in and plug all the Christmas lights in, the room filling with warm light. Then, I make my rounds to the girls' room and then back to the living room where I wait  anxiously for everyone. 
The girls always seem to take forever in the bathroom and then they're finally in the living room. 
Some years the parents have gotten up with us but most years it just us kids. 
Then, I pass around everyone's stockings and we begin digging into those giant socks. xD 
We show each other what we got and enjoy looking at all the stuff. Then the girls decide to go back to bed and sometimes Chancy does too, but I could never seem to do that. If I'm up, I stay up. xD 
We almost always get a grapefruit in our stocking so we eat those. Some years we'd make a fancy breakfast but none of us are really fancy breakfast people so we just eat our grapefruit and bacon or something. xD 
I rush out and do chores; feed my dog and wish her a Merry Christmas. Sometimes I have something for her but we'll see what I do this year *winks* The goats are fluffy and adorable and I wish all our animals a Merry Christmas. *winks* 
Then, back into the house I rush, into my room and I start getting ready for the day. I make my bed, clean up my room, pick out a Christmas-y outfit and do my hair and makeup. (this year I'm planning on having LaKaysha put my hair into a scarf so it'll be curly) 
Then everyone helps out in the kitchen, getting the food prepped and the table set. Christmas music fills the house as we rush about and the day has that cozy feeling.  
Once the food is all ready and Mother is making the gravy and such, us kids just chill and do whatever. 
Felicity and Josiah show up sometime before lunch is done and hang around with us too. 
Sometimes we play checkers or something while we wait. 
Then dinner is served, *licks lips* There is ham, gravy, mashed potatoes, corn, crescent rolls, salad, pickle platter, and sparkling cider. 
Once everyone has had their fill, dishes are shared and everyone helps out in the clean up. 
Then it's time! We all gather in the living room, Daddy there with the Bible opened to Luke 2 and we sit as he reads of our Saviors birth. 
Then we pass around our gifts. Once everyone has all their gifts and nothing is left under the tree, we start opening gifts. Starting from the youngest and up. 
Kate will be much older than she was last year and I can't wait to watch her open all her gifts! Then, it's me and so forth. 
Before we know it, the gifts are all opened and there is a pile of wrapping paper, boxes, and such. Everyone admires their gifts and then the rest of the day is spent relaxing. 
We always have a platter of goodies sitting out for whenever your feel like eating something and sometimes we all play a game together.  

Then Christmas is over. But oh what a happy Christmas it will be. 

Christmas Day of last year <3

What do you do for Christmas? Have any family traditions you'd like to share? I hope you enjoyed this and are having a wonderful Christmas season! God bless you all!