Christmas Eve Brunch

Ever since I was a child Christmas Eve has always been a festive day. When I was small my parents hosted a Christmas Eve party...when I was older we went to a friend's Christmas Eve party every year. We didn't have family in town so our friends were our family and we spent holidays with them.



And now, Christmas Eve is still a very festive day with brunch & gifts with my brother's family, then Church & a party of family at my brother's house with a visit from Santa.  It almost feels as though we have two days of Christmas.  It's busy & fun.





Our Christmas day is more relaxing & low key, which is wonderful and so I don't take as many photos that day as we mostly open gifts and just relax.  But there is a lot of fun to remember from Christmas Eve.



Our brunch is full of tradition. It's pretty much the same each year. Mom makes her great sausage & egg casserole, and I make a yummy french toast casserole (which Dan eats the leftovers warmed with ice cream for dessert!) Fresh fruit, a pile of sausage,



and the drink is always a type of cranberry juice mixed with 7up. It's festive and delicious!

English Crackers are a long standing tradition as well.



Silly hats must be worn during brunch.



Two boys were too cool for hats this year. I'm confident they'll come back around in a few years.



Dan set a good example of silly hat wearing.



Silly boys are also a Christmas tradition. Noah doesn't care for the festive drink, so he is indulged with his favorite box of apple juice.



Santa cookies on the plates (to be eaten during gift opening) is another tradition. I made them last year and left them in the freezer! I was determined to not do that again this year.



And probably my favorite tradition. A variety of Christmas cookies to nibble on throughout the day. A couple of the recipes (mocha balls & the poppy seed loaf) are from my childhood.







Then it was time for gifts!! We have the kids open their gifts first and let them go play and then the adults enjoy exchanging gifts in a more peaceful atmosphere. :)





Noah was SO excited on Christmas Eve! He was so cute. He and Andrew LOVE each other ~ Andrew calls Noah his "cousin-friend." He loves that his cousin is his friend too. They play great together and are so fun to watch.



They truly are just thrilled to be together. What a blessing! I hope they always stay close.





Mike & Michelle watching the boys open their gifts. Notice Kaitlin parked herself by Aunt Michelle? No coincidence there!



She loves her "Aunt-AShell."



I put Katie's little gift from pre-school under the tree (I did so love the packaging) intending to open it Christmas morning but she couldn't wait another second for me to open it. She was so proud of her card and gift. It was really sweet as she told me about it as I was opening it.



Her little hand print. In purple, of course. (Her favorite color).



Mom gave the boys these Angry Bird Blanket wraps. They were a hit.





Kaitlin really isn't into toys very much (she prefers dressing up). She plays with a few things occasionally but mostly likes to be with me "helping." I took her to Target to see what she was interested in and this little mermaid doll that moves her tail and you can take her in the bath tub was the one thing she picked out. Uncle Mike and Aunt Michelle came through with it.



She has already been swimming in our bath tub.



Mom gave Katie this special ring that was my Aunt Linda's. She passed away the month before my Dad. I was so pleased to see how much Kaitlin liked it.





The boys were not excited about receiving clothing, but Kaitlin was thrilled over her new Christmas clothes.



My Mom gave her this dog and even though it was wrapped, every time we turned out the light it would bark inside the present! It was so funny and at first Katie thought it was coming from outside. She finally figured out where it was coming from and has been waiting to see what little puppy was inside there!

(I know I have a lot of photos of Katie opening gifts, it just happened that the ones I took of her turned out well).

Mike was sooo pleased with himself over some gag gifts that he bought for me and Dan. Dan was the proud recipient of some bacon soap. :) And I got a funny book of lists (I'm known in my family for my lists).



It was the Christmas of kitchen gifts which was quite fun!



I love Mike's smile in this photo. I also have to point out his shoes, so that his latest craze: athletic shoes, is on the record. I don't even know how many pairs he has, but it's something else! Notice these are green & red? Festive for Christmas!

This is really LONG! I'll finish up Christmas Eve night in the next post. :)