Christmas Eve

This year Christmas Eve was pretty relaxed for us- which is to say it still had a "program," but it was followed pretty loosely. After a yummy pasta dinner curtesy of Mom, We started out with Debbie and Cam playing the piano while we took turns picking out our favorite Christmas hymns.

I think this was Jeff's choice- mine was Silent Night- my absolute favorite. 

 and then we had to take kid pics in front of our Idaho tree

back row; Cam, Chris-who's in his 3rd year of med school, Jeff- he just finished his first semester of chiropractic school, my oldest brother Jordan- who's a genius professor-in-training at Princeton, and Matt- who's a senior at Timberline

front: Debbie- chris's gf- who we love, me holding down the center, and julie- jordan's longtime gf who we also love

*every year my parents literally hike into the mountains and chop our tree down in the snow. I used to prefer the prettier, fuller versions at the tree farm, but now I love our Idaho trees- they're all like Jeff- lean and tall. 

and the ones responsible for it all

love them

I think I have more pics of my parents kissing than any other kid I know....

but I'm not complaining! I want to be just like them when Jeff and I have been married as long as they have.

 me and my honey on Christmas Eve

 taking a cue from the rents and getting a Christmas Eve kiss in

 After festivities in the sitting room- we all gathered in the family room to watch home videos. Instead of acting out the usual plays- Night Before Christmas and Christ's Birth- we watched past Christmas Eve productions on tape- and it was hilarious! Easily my favorite part of the night was watching a five year old jordan acting out King Herod- and a three year old Cam dressed up as the angel. We also broke out some cake to watch this Christmas Peter Paul and Mary concert that my parents taped from the 80's. We watch it every Christmas Eve and it is timeless- the clothes aren't, but the music is :)

This year Christmas Eve was perfect.