2015 Christmas Celebration #5: Christmas Eve

My husband's family has lots of wonderful Christmas Eve traditions.  We all attend Christmas Eve serve at his parents' church (though I usually have to watch it from the overflow room because the music is deafening to my overly sensitive ears).  We usually pose for a photo at the church. 

Homemade soup and sliders are the traditional meal followed by birthday gifts for Jesus.  My mother-in-law makes a charitable contribution in honor of each family member (and because of Jesus's gift to us) to the non-profit ministry that is most meaningful to each family member based on his/her life story.

Then we read the Christmas story, sing a worship song (I think?), and open our matching Christmas PJ's.  This year, Kate selected the PJ's, and she went with a Star Wars theme since everyone was so excited about the release of Star Wars 7 that week.  Most of us were Storm Troopers.  Sophie, the one-year-old got a Darth Vader suit and Grandpa represented the Light in his Obi-Wan PJ attire.  The older girls got Princess Leia PJ's, so Grandpa wasn't the only one representing the good side.

The Oklahoma sunset was gorgeous that evening.