Christmas Eve: Night One

And then it was Christmas and the holiday was upon us in full swing. Christmas Eve began by my whole family going to church. Bright and early, we all got up and trucked over to FCC to see what John had in store for the Christmas eve service. It felt good to be back in a church, and the coffee hour was like a bustling reunion. It being the holidays, all the people i used to see every Sunday in sunday school were home, and we were all eager to catch up with one another. I found out that Eric and Kristen Hermes (one of the sets of twins i knew growing up) are both in Chicago. It was good to see them, and fun listening to them talk as they both seem pretty happy. Then i caught up with Megan, who is teaching in Grand Blanc. Very cool! I can definitely see her as an awesome teacher. I also chatted with the Gavins and some of the older folks who have always insisted on greeting me with a hug as if i were their own grandchild. After church, the afternoon was pretty chill. My aunt flew in from Arizona, and met us at our house. We then all trucked, or vanned...i suppose, over to my Grandparent's house for the Christmas Eve festivities to commence. There were lots of baked goods, all varieties of nuts, the necessary christmas shrimp, mini-pigs in a blanket (new this year, but strangely addicting), chicken wings, and of course the Christmas pies...i think there was a main course in there somewhere, but between my gorging on appetizers and sweets, i'm not sure i ever got there.

After dinner, it was time for presents, and yours truly played santa (meaning, i got to crawl around under the tree, looking for presents for people and then handing them out).

Once the last scrap of wrapping paper had been cleared away (minus all the presents left under the tree for people who hadn't yet come into town...see Christmas Part 2 - The Christmas Tree Crawl) and with everyone nodding off due to a wonderful dinner...of Pot Roast, that's what the main course was...families started drifting out, heading home to await the arrival of the real Santa.