The Eve

I always think that Christmas Eve at my parents deserves a post all of it's own. After church on Christmas eve, we head over to my parents house. Some of my siblings have plans that night but for whoever doesn't, this is the place to be.

Is there anything cuter then little boys dressed up at Christmas time? Love it!

Always have to inspect the Christmas centerpiece du jour. My mom is creative. Each year it's different. But she always manages to incorporate special serving pieces and folliage from the yard. This picture doesn't do it justice. It was so pretty! That is not real snow around the base. Even though it completely looks like the real deal. Heather came across this "snow mix". You mix it up in a bowl and it lasts for about 36 hours. Very pretty!

Christmas eve dinner menu consists of one main entree. My mom's homemade pizza. It wouldn't be Christmas without it. Delicious!

For the first time ever, instead of gathering around the piano this year to sing Christmas carols, Vanessa accompanied us with her violin. She was cute! I should add that by this point, the kids were all in bed sleeping. It wasn't too hard to convince Max that bed was a good idea on this specialist of all nights.

Time to get this party started. Everyone is looking a little sleepy in the photo above. How about a penny auction. Jonny was our (greek) auctioneer. We all started off equally with 30 pennies each. Good good good (greek) times. (My big fat greek wedding....how many quotes do you know from this movie? Apparently my family members pretty much have it memorized because they had a line and an answer for everything!)

This would be when things started to get funny. Whatcha got there Vanessa? Ohhhhhh a nice framed picture of a cat that would appear to need a bathroom super bad. Niiiiiiiiiice. Funny thing is, I think she ended up selling this picture to Jonathan. And why would he want this? A birthday present for Chad of course. Too bad for Chad. A) he had other plans that night and wasn't at the penny auction and B) his birthday is two days after Christmas. Score for Jonny!

Nice glass-oggies you got there LeeAnne...

Lots of laughs when Jonny bought himself a pack of 6 fake moustaches. Check out my dad laughing in the background. Priceless.

Niiiiiiiiiice Johnny. Nice.

Lest you think it was all tacky and ugly gifts....it wasn't. These cute snowmen made an appearance. Apparently my mom bought them for the auction. And my dad ended up buying them. I tried to buy them off of him, but he wasn't interested. Classic Nelson. So like him to end up with the "dishes" item of the penny auction.

The stars of the show were my parents... the glasses are quite becoming, huh? Now where are all those moustaches? That would really have made an interesting photo... :-)