Christmas Eve Preparation

Christmas Eve is a week away, but in an effort to have everything ready early so we can sit back and enjoy this beautiful season in a calm and peaceful way, I organized and double checked everything to make sure it is ready to go. I love Christmas Eve and always have. It is a day of waiting, anticipation, and wonder. I remember as a child, attending Mass and feeling so content and happy sitting in that long pew among my sisters, with my mom on one end and my dad on the other. We were dressed in our Christmas outfits, listening to the beautiful sounds of the choir singing as we waited for Baby Jesus to be born. Even today, I can't listen to Silent Night without a tear in my eye and a longing in my heart to be little once again, waiting on Christmas Eve.

These are the memories I hope to create for my own children. Like many others, we have special traditions we celebrate every Christmas Eve. I gathered everything together and made sure we were ready. And now we wait. We wait for Baby Jesus. We wait for Santa. We wait for the quiet and calm that is Christmas Eve. We wait for the noise and laughter that is Christmas Day. We wait and wonder because it is almost here...Christmas!

We light this candle every Christmas Eve morning. It burns all day, until we put it out for another year.

This is our Christmas Eve Dinner. The kids are always too excited to eat a large meal, and we are busy getting ready for Mass, so this is a fun and easy dinner to eat before we go. We don't have pop in the house on a regular basis, so the Raspberry Ginger Ale is a festive, special treat.

After Mass, Steve takes the littles outside to sprinkle the Magic Reindeer Dust for Santa!

Then it is inside to change into the special Christmas Eve pajamas I surprise them with. They always act surprised, even though we do this every year! I used to get them all matching jammies...miss that!

We sit down together, and read our beautiful book...The Night Before Christmas, like so many other families everywhere on this special night.

This is a special family book...it came right from The North Pole and Santa himself!

We set out cookies and milk for Santa and his elves,

and hang our stockings.

Then it is off to check the NORAD Santa Tracker one last time before we say our prayers and head to sleep on the best night of the year!