Christmas Eve

We had a beautiful morning at church with some wonderful talks about our Savior's birth. Before heading down to Mom's for our traditional Christmas Eve celebration, we stopped at Dad's grave to give him some festive Christmas flowers and tell him how much we love and miss him.

Starting early with the drinks!

This picture totally made us laugh - the lighting makes it look like Ryan is a cut out.

This year I made my food before I came and it was so nice to just sit and relax and talk with everyone rather than spending my time preparing in the kitchen.

Mom's house looked beautiful!

And this year we had everyone fit at one table which was wonderful.

The best shrimp cocktail maker in Ohio!

And the best griller!

The shrimp appetizers are always a favorite.

The meat men!

Everything was delicious, as usual.

After dinner we had a special Christmas Eve program. Everyone had picked out a name of Christ and how He had shown up as that name in their lives this year. Lots of powerful witnesses and testimonies about the amazing love our Savior has for each of us. It was truly a special evening. 

We ended the evening with trifle!!

Back home the kids opened Christmas pjs...

and lots of pictures.

Even Cleo got in on the fun!

Cleo loves to give kisses!

These two pictures arrived right before I went to bed, making my day even better!! I was so grateful to see that Xander and his companion were well taken care of on Christmas Eve.