Christmas Celebrations - Part 5: Oklahoma Day 3 (Christmas Eve)

Our third day in Oklahoma was Christmas Eve.  It was filled with family, faith, and little bits of adventure.  The cousins came over rather early that day for lots of fun cousin play time.  One of the twins had a red shiny sticker on her nose and said that she was Rudolph.  I snapped a picture of her pointing a toy gun at me and captioned it:

"Grandma got held up by a red nosed reindeer
When the twins came over to her house Christmas Eve."

I really wanted a side-by-side picture of the youngest grandson, age 3, and our son, age 6.  They wear the same size despite the age difference.  It's almost difficult to tell which one is oldest.  My husband and I are both rather short, so our son has been tracking along the 20-30 percentile curve his entire life.  Our nephew, however, has a father who is a 6'4" and a maternal grandfather who is at least that tall, so he's on his way to becoming a super tall young man.

The kids in the family, including my husband, had fun playing Rock Band by the Christmas tree.  I posted a pic of my husband and my son rocking out on Facebook, and friends liked Grandma's Christmas tree so much I had to take another picture at night so they could see it all lit up against the dark sky.  So, it looks like my husband spent the entire day playing Rock Band, but he did take breaks here and there.  Grandma has always believed that Christmas trees should be made out of real trees.  She probably abhors our artificial one with fiber optic lights.  However, some of her sons are allergic to the tree needles, so she has always used a real tree without any leaves painted white for her Christmas tree. Her latest tree is not a tree but a series of wood planks nailed together in a very nice geometric pattern with hooks for hanging ornaments. She really should start selling them on Pinterest although a lot of labor is involved, so she would have to sell them at a high price.

Here is some evidence that my husband did not spend the entire day playing Rock Band.  He took some time to inspect his brothers' new shotguns and took me out to Grandma & Grandpa's pond to practice shooting skeet.  He did not miss.

I find my brother-in-law's shotgun to be very awkward to hold.  He's 6'4" and has a significantly larger arm span that I do.  The first skeet he threw out hung low in the air and took veered sharply to the left.  The guys laughed, considering it a dud, but in a last minute impulse, I decided to shoot anyway.  And by some stroke of luck, I nailed it.  Just don't ask me how well I shot the other skeet that were thrown along a normal trajectory.

Jingle bells, shotgun shells, 4 skeet got away.
But the one that flew far left got blown to bits today.

Sommer, one of the multiple super models in the family, showed off her domestic skills by leading a cookie baking/decorating project with the kids all afternoon.  She used her grandmother's famous cookie recipe, and the cookies turned out fabulous.  The kids had a blast watching, helping, and decorating.  We love you, Sommer!

My husband's family has some great Christmas Eve traditions.  After enjoying a fabulous meal prepared by Grandma preceded by some fine appetizers supplied by the boys (which this year included the largest cocktail shrimp I have ever seen and the prettiest veggie& cheese tray in the shape of a Christmas tree), the family gathers in the living room for the reading of the Christmas story from the Bible.  Then envelopes are distributed to each member of the family.  Inside is a note indicating that a donation has been made to a charitable organization (carefully selected to suit each family member's passion) because of Christ, the greatest gift, and in honor of each family member.  Here are two examples with real names replaced with blog names.

Then, each family member receives a gift bag.  Every year since my husband, the oldest, was a small child, every single family member, both young and old, is given a set of matching pajamas.  The older guys usually get a t-shirt and sleep pants, but some years, they have gotten pajamas to match the rest of us as well.  Then Grandma insists that we all put on our new pajamas for pictures.  The next morning, we still have our new pajamas on for the opening of gifts.

Listening to the Christmas story, cookies in process, and grand sons in their matching pajamas.

This year a new tradition was added.  We all watched a Christmas movie that was written, produced, choreographed, and designed by the oldest grandchild. She had the leading acting role and also played the piano, sang, and dance.  She selected costumes for herself and her twin sisters who also sang and danced in the movie.  She even wrote in parts for our kids which she filmed during the early days of our visit.  Her brother helped edit and add sound effects.  It was hilarious.  One of my favorite songs was "Carol of the Cats" (revised words to the tune of "Carol of the Bells") featuring her two cats sitting on the sofa, looking annoyed.