Our Christmas Eve Tradition | Whitney Beth Photography | UT Family Photographer
 

   Our Christmas Eve tradition that my siblings and I all started goes back to when I was about nine or ten, living in Newberg, Oregon. I thought it would be so fun to have everyone sleep in the same room for a big sibling sleepover on Christmas Eve. That first year, we had the boys bring in sleeping bags to the girls room and we spent the night giggling away and trying to guess when Santa would come to our house. It was so much fun, that we decided to keep on doing it! As more siblings joined our family, our bedrooms weren't big enough and we migrated to the playroom. Which worked out great for TV access and Christmas Movie Marathons. Somewhere along the lines we decided we all needed to be in footie pajamas. 

Christmas Eve 2017

    The year Danny and I got married, I prepped him for Christmas Eve. We got him a pair of footies and he joined in on the fun! Here we are, 8 Christmases later and a few more siblings and grandkids added to the mix and we are still all sleeping in the same room in our footies. Everyone not living at home brings their overnight bags, footies and we all stake out our claim in the playroom. Mapping out where air mattresses will lay and where the walking path will be. We've gotten smarter over the years and have moved all the digital clocks downstairs so they are within sight of any siblings who might happen to wake up and ask what time it is. 

     This year, while at the mall getting things for Julie and Mitch's wedding in May my mom and I found these amazing, cat-icorn footies at Forever 21. There happened to be exactly 7 of them on sale for $5 - in all the sizes we needed for all the girls in the family. Meant to be. My mom bought them up so fast and held onto them all until Thanksgiving, when all of us but Makayala were home. This year all of us girls will be matching in these footies! 

    Our Christmas Eve tradition has evolved more than the giant sleepover and footie pajamas. Now it includes going to Banks' graveside and decorating it for Christmas. We adopted a tradition from my brother in law and light a lantern for Banks and keep it burning all through the night and day. It's our little reminder that even though we are not physically all together at Christmas, we still are spiritually. 

Christmas Eve 2018

Regardless of how our traditions have evolved and changed, I love that at the center of it all, we are together. Merry Christmas everyone.