Christmas Eve 2011

Christmas Eve came upon us very suddenly. We had been preparing for this for so many weeks and the last week of Advent was full of shopping, baking and preparing for this special evening.

Christmas Eve is a very exciting time but still very busy. As we have our Midnight Feast after Mass in the early hours of Christmas morning there still is quite a lot to prepare before Mass, including all the ironing of good clothes that are essential for this particular Mass.

We are celebrating the birth of Our Saviour and Lord, we want to go in our very best clothes, hence the suits that are mandatory for our older boys and beautiful dresses for our girls. M,e well I don't have anything too fancy to wear but I did manage to make myself a new skirt the day before. This is amazing for me as it wasn't done in the last dying breaths of getting ready.

Just before we leave for Mass we set the table for our feast in preparation of our return.

Eggnog is a once a year treat, one which the children especially Vellvin look forward to.

Fresh berries are also a great treat on this most special celebration.

Stone fruit is the other major treat, however we missed buying cherries even though the orchard is just up the road!

Did I mention before we have this feast and getting out of Church clothes that it is essential to have the traditional Family photo (see first picture). Poor little Arwen actually had her photo while asleep as she fell asleep on the way home (she refused to go to bed before  Mass) and so missed all the goodies too. We did save her some. Really there is so much and more in the freezer too.

Our baby Jesus was placed in the manger after coming down the Star Ladder in the arms of a an angel. Mary and Joseph had ridden along the star path and were now in the Bethlehem  stable.

She had a long way to go and sometimes (well often ) we forgot to help her reach her destination  but finally achieved the goal on Christmas morning.

The last thing before going to  bed in the early hours of Christmas morning, after 2am in the morning for the children.

Was to put the bags around the lounge room to be filled by

very enthusiastic  tired parents who did not go to bed until 5:30 am as our little Trahaearn would not settle quickly. He was obviously very excited by his first Christmas.

The very last thing I do is to swaddle a baby doll in a red cloth and place in the manger of straw the children have been filling with good deeds and sacrifices. Well, the manger was a little bare this year. I actually think this was my fault as my focus was else where and I did not encourage them enough so helped soften the bed for Jesus.

Next year I think I will make a baby especially for the manger. In fact like Ginny I thought of it earlier in the season but did not do it either. I know I have plans always greater than  what I can achieve for Advent  but hopefully will fix that next year.
In fact I will share my own struggle with a particular 'tradition' we have that I will attempt to change  next year. So I look forward to 'baring all' so to speak about this soon.

Thank you for allowing us to share our excitement over the joy we have on Christmas Eve!!

Blessings to you and your homes,