"Christmas Eve" and December Birthdays

My family had their Christmas Eve party on the second Sunday of December.  It was a little early but it was also just the best time to get together.  We had it at Scott and Heather's clubhouse which we all thought worked out pretty well with it's large kitchen, large main room, and a game room upstairs.  We each had to pitch in and pay for its use, but it was worth it.  Also, I couldn't make red Jell-O jigglers!  That was the rule.  So, I made orange instead.  Many family members voiced their disappointment that there were no red jigglers but ate the orange ones anyway.  I still made green ones, so it was mostly still okay.

Either way, the real reason we're there is the Nativity.  There are so many kids that we're a little shepherd heavy.  We also have lots of angels and even a handful of animals.

 Here are all the shepherds all around the baby.  Baby Jesus is being played by my sister's newest grandbaby, Piper.  Also, the super-cute shepherd on the left is my sister's grandson, Davin.  So cute.  And my sister has, like, seven grandkids now.  What the heck!

 Jonathan loves being a sheep.  The ears were taken by a younger cousin, but he still had the white robe.

 Jaaromy narrated this year.

 Brigham was nice enough to play along as a shepherd.  He even smiled for me when I took pictures!

 At the end, everyone admires the baby and we sing carols.  Another great Nativity.

We also celebrated our December birthdays.  Along with two other cousins and an aunt, Jonathan's birthday is in December.

 When it was his turn, we sang Happy Birthday.

 Yay!

He got a cool rocket clock from Grandma and some cool clothes.

We also exchanged cousin presents.  Here I thought we had all the way to Christmas to get all the presents but a couple of days before the party I realized that we needed cousin presents by that weekend.  No problem, we went to Shopko since we had to go there anyway.  Luckily, the cousins we had are fairly easy to shop for.  I'd hate to have my kids, their tastes are a little more...specialized.  On the other hand, sometimes I'm surprised at what they like.  They got some fun things from their cousins and I don't think they even had to go online to get them.

I love my family Christmas party.  So many traditions.  It's interesting to see how it has changed over the years.