Our Christmas Eve Celebration

With this Christmas being our last without the babe, I was just a little more into the holidays and wanting to be around family.  Everything will change soon, and being able to share special moments with all the ones we love most was even more meaningful this year!

We always go to church on Christmas Eve.  Mass starts at 4 p.m. but it really just starts when the church is full, which was around 3:30 p.m. this year.  We were back at the house around 5, took some family photos (thanks to self timer) and waited around before heading to my aunts for dinner!

Gotta love this guy.

The girls wanted to take a picture since the boys were not in the photo mood.

Before heading to my aunts, we exchanged gifts from the siblings.  It's always a tradition that we exchange gifts the night before Christmas with each other.   My sister got me the most beautiful necklace with the baby's initial on it and my brother knows me well - gift certificate to the manicure place I love!

Christmas Eve dinner at my aunts house is always a big event.  This year we had over 25 people for dinner. My aunt does an amazing job cooking for everyone - turkey, ham, casseroles, desserts - the whole works!

 

After dinner, we celebrated my brothers 24th birthday a few days late and ended up leaving there around 9 p.m. to read Christmas books to my cousins next door.

I was in bed around 11 p.m. and the presents were all wrapped and ready under the tree!