The Children Were Nestled
In my family, we open our gifts on Christmas Eve. This tradition got its start in my own childhood. I'm assuming my parents started this because we lived in the same small town as my paternal grandparents who had 11 children. Every year, nine of those children and their families would come for Christmas (one child passed away before I was born and one family lived several states away). That meant 22 grandchilden as well. We rented the Community Hall in town so everyone could be together. Obviously, my parents helped a lot with the food shopping and preparation and needed to get things together on Christmas morning. So we had our family gathering a little early. I've continued the tradition with my own children since we have hosted Christmas (and all the other major holiday) dinners since my oldest was born. We go to church, come home and have snacks and enjoy a leisurely time opening the gifts. This year, I made a quilt for each of the kids with the plan of putting it on their ...