On Christmas Eve day in the afternoon

I kind of got sidetracked from my Christmas Eve recap.  That whole gift of a visit from a great friend just got me all befuddled.

Anyway, gifts ended and it was time for the traditional family brunch where everyone helps.  Cinnamon rolls are a given.  Everyone helps to make and everyone helps to clean up.

Game time is next.  This year we started with a family funny book contest.  I went through all those books where I've written the cute and curious things the kids have said and I made them into a contest.  Andrew won.  See, Andrew, it appears as if there are times when being the oldest is a help not a hindrance.

How would you do with this sampling from our quiz (answers at the end of the post)?

1.  Who thought the angels in the Christmas story said, “Behold, I bring you good movies.” 

2.  Who enjoyed watching the toasts at a wedding so much that he/she said, “I want to be a toaster when I grow up?”  

3.  Who was watching football on TV with Daddy and said, “Look, Philistines!” 

4.  Who said, “I’m a poet and didn’t even figure it out yet,” erroneously assuming this rhymed like the real saying.  

5.  Who saw an inflatable mummy at Halloween and said, “Look, Mommy, it’s the man Jesus brought out.”  

6.  Who watched The Sound of Music and described it this way:  Mom, they have seven children…There was a lady who was a Mun, or something like that.  She was always late and she never got to pray so her punishment was that she had to help this family that has 7 children.”  

7.  Who called shorts, “Legs-sticking-out”?  

We also played Left-Center-Right but instead of playing with chips to be passed around, each child started with 10 pieces of their favorite candy.  We played in rounds of 3 minutes and at the end of each round you could place a piece of your remaining candy into a bag to be kept.

And we couldn't forget the yearly race to finish a task.  Last year it was a small Lego building set.  This year it was a puzzle.  It was funny to watch how each personality approached puzzle making.  All those puzzles get donated to other children in the weeks to come.

This year we added Christmas caroling to the neighbors to our day's activities.  Since we moved here 10 years ago, 5 neighbors have lost a spouse.  Two of these deaths occurred this year, one of them just before Christmas.  It was good to spend a portion of our day spreading the blessing of Christmas.  I hope this is a tradition that continues.

What are your Christmas traditions?

*Answers to the quiz questions:  The questions go in order from oldest to youngest, Andrew, Jesse, Mariana, Shoun, Isaac, Eden and HopeAnne