Christmas Eve Night

When I was a kid my family had a Christmas Eve tradition that I loved and looked forward to each year. The tradition was for the whole family to gather in the living room by the tree and each person got to choose one gift to open that night. The gift could be the biggest or the smallest or anywhere in between. As long as the gift was under the tree and had your name on it, it was fair game. It was always a big deal for each of us kids to try and pick the 'perfect' gift to open that night. We would do reconnaissance for weeks trying to figure out what our gifts were and what they were wrapped in. But it never failed that one of us would pick a horrible gift to open and regret it all night long. And when I say a horrible gift, I mean socks or something like that. Since this was the first year we had kids old enough to open gifts on Christmas Eve with us, I decided to institute my family's tradition into my own family. Abby, Jacob and Connor all loved the gifts they picked out and spent the entire night playing with their new toys.

Dad and Preston at the start of the evening.

Abby and Jacob opening their gifts.



Abby and Connor rolling their arms

Jacob playing with his Iron Man

Connor checking out his new Mickey Mouse toy.

Jacob explaining Iron Man to Alicia.

Connor showing off a few of his dance moves.