Christmas Eve

As far back as I can remember, we have always done fondue on Christmas Eve. It is the perfect meal, not a lot of prep and everyone basically does their own cooking. I grew up with only steak to cook but as the years have progressed we have added a cheese fondue, chicken, shrimp, and salmon(some years). I cut the meat into bite size pieces, marinate it, bake potatoes and cut up vegetables and french bread. When it is din din time, we place the different kinds of meats on plates accessible to all on the table. Everyone dresses their potato with all the yumminess they offer, sour cream, bacon bits, and cheese( I opt for a sweet potato)

Dinner is fairly time consuming but it is always good conversation while we cook our meat one small piece at a time. We get to together with Jaren and Cindy each year, every other year with their kids. This year was their kids so it was quite the crowd and we invited Grandma Hansen too. Jaren has 4 kids. Cindy 3 so altogether 12 kids! Holy Moly.

This is the host Jaren and Cindy, caught Cindy with a mouth full.

I took this picture a little late, but hey better late than never. We usually use Tostada ready made cheese in a jar for our cheese fondue. This year I felt adventurous and made gourmet cheese fondue. It was awesome, so awesome I didn't get a picture before it disappeared. It was pricey so we won't do that every year, but every once in awhile will work.

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Corby happy to be here and Gelsey not so sure, merry Christmas Eve.
Sierra, Gavan, and Teesh all enjoying our fondue meal. We sure do love spending time with our cousins. Gavan and Teesh are only 5 days a part.

After dinner, we all dress up and act out the nativity scene. Jaren put Teesh in charge and all the children participated while the adults sat back for the entertainment.

Gelsey is Mary, Gavan Joseph, Ada baby Jesus and Talia the donkey. Teesh read/told the story of how Mary and Joseph traveled to Bethlehem to pay their taxes and how they could not find a place for Mary to have her baby. Eventually they were able to find a stable where Mary had baby Jesus amongst the animals.

Kaylen and Bria are sheep coming to see sweet baby Jesus.

Sierra is the angel warning the three wise men to not go back to King Herod telling him where he would be find baby Jesus.

And the three wise men (or women) finally brought gifts to baby Jesus. Love the sheep head right front and center. Don't miss Malia she is right behind Sam in purple and green.

When the nativity tradition had ended, Jaren and Cindy pulled out gifts for all their family members to open on Christmas Eve. We opted out here because we don't have many gifts. They all got new pajama bottoms. Bria was a bit sad that she didn't have a gift to open so Jaren let her open his and I said if it fits, she could have them. As hard as she tried she wasn't able to make 2x fit her little 5t body. Thanks for the laugh as you tried though sweetie.

We said prayers, put kids to bed and settled our little ones on the couch to watch a Christmas movie while the adults played games. We love Five Crowns, Slide 5  and Mormon Bridge. I couldn't resist taking a picture of my little munchkins relaxing on the couch. 

Before our game had ended, Bria was not acting herself and sure enough she had a fever. Malia has been ill the past few days so I knew someone else would most likely come down with it. We gathered our stuff and headed home. It had been snowing all day but luckily the drive was great. What a fantastic day! When we arrived home we helped Santa with his work and made it in bed by 1AM.
Not a bad day at all...... family, food, and entertainment, what more could you ask for!