Christmas Eve is seafood night at my in-laws. Crab, scallops, shrimp, salmon, oh my! I hadn't eaten much seafood until I married Jamie, but since he grew up near Portland and San Francisco, his family are definite seafood fans. Probably my favorite dish of the night is this clam chowder. Delicious!
While we are there, we open pajamas from Jamie's parents. We all look forward to our new jammies.
After we're back home, the Christmas stockings that Santa fills get hung on the couch. I still have my stocking my mom made when I was little, and when we got married mom made Jamie one. As each of the kids have come along I made theirs, although I was super surprised Christmas Eve when they were pulled out and Madeleine didn't have one that I had made. She used the old standby Winnie-the-Pooh one we have for their first Christmas or two, and I'll have to get her official one made sooner than later (so I don't get surprised again next year!).
After kids are all in bed, besides all the final Christmas preparation, we have to set a few booby traps. This tradition goes back to my dad. To keep us from peeking during the night, my dad would set booby traps. His most elaborate included some super bright lights attached to a motion sensor. After tiptoeing upstairs from the basement, we turned into the kitchen and SHAZAM! It usually involved stacks of cans and such, though. At our house I've used bubble wrap down the hallway, a bell hanging on their doorknob, and a new one this year that I quickly took down when they never hit it so I can use it in the future (mwa-ha-ha!). I'm sure my dad didn't sleep much, waiting more for the booby traps to go off than because of any Christmas excitement. At my mom's family's Christmas party this year, her siblings shared their own Christmas morning present peeking stealth tactics, including checking months ahead for squeaky spots in the hallway, and crawling through their laundry chute. My boys were listening closely, so I thought I would be in for big trouble this year. Several of the kids got up for the bathroom, and I kept listening for someone to venture down the hallway and hit the other booby trap, but no one ever did. Maybe next year!
Christmas morning begins with a glass of orange juice. This tradition began with my dad's family. The intent is to get something good in their stomach before they hit their stockings. We didn't have any trouble this year, but in the past we've had someone suddenly decide they don't like orange juice, someone that says it's too cold, or someone that sips and sips slowly, but the show just cannot go on until everyone has had their cup of orange juice.
Our tree isn't one of those "perfect" trees, all matchy matchy. Every year my mom's side of the family has an ornament exchange so we all get new ornaments from that, and we usually add one or two each from other venues (my mom, sometimes me if I'm on top of it) each year too. I wrote this 5 years ago about our tree, but we have several other favorites now, like 2 flamingos from my brother's family in Florida, some Ravens (because of Jamie's and my Wood Badge critter), and hand print Christmas balls my mom made for each of the kids.
Mom passes out the presents, sibling presents to each other first. I've gone more and more simple every year, and I think this year has been the best so far. Not a lot of crazy excess. Useful gifts that help further the kids' talents. Between us and the grandmas, the girls have a mountain of yarn. Love it!
After we enjoy things here at home for a while, we head off to each of the grandparents' homes for a while. We hit both just right this year, and were there while our siblings were also at each of the grandparents' houses. We love being around them all, but Sundays have been ultra busy this year (and I imagine with late church next year it will be even harder), so we haven't seen them as much as we like.
When we're done making the rounds, it's lovely to head back home and create a little order out of the chaos.
We all feel extremely blessed.
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