TRADITIOOOOONNNNN. TRADITION---TRADITION.

One of the many things I love is creating traditions with my family. Christmas Eve just happens to be one of those times where my favorite traditions occur. For as long as I can remember, Christmas Eve has been the most special night of the year. Everyone dresses up for an elaborate feast that my parents host. Dad does most of the cooking, preparing a shrimp feast for us seafood lovers, and an equally wonderful feast for the non-seafood lovers. It's a fabulous night that reminds us how lucky we are to be surrounded by our wonderful family, and it gives us the chance to reflect on the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

This is where the feast occurs. Our family has grown so much in the past few years that we added two white tables to the big dining room table. It was such a great feeling to look down the table and see my parents, my siblings, all of our nieces and nephews, our sweet aunt, and the matriarch of our family, Grandma Costabile. It's truly a special time, and it is a night that we look forward to all year. This year, while we ate, we had a special surprise for my parents. A tradition that we absolutely love is singing Christmas carols as a family. During dinner we always dim the lights and listen to a CD of Christmas favorites and then do the family singing after dinner. This year, Elizabeth, Jane, Alex, Natalie, and I made a CD of us singing our favorite Christmas songs and had that playing during dinner.

Another tradition we have is to read the Christmas story after dinner is done. Our parents raised us to have a deep and abiding love for our Heavenly Father and His son, Jesus Christ. I am so grateful for that. They taught us from a young age that Christmas is about remembering the birth and life of Jesus, always reminding us that it's because of Him that we are able to go through this life, and one day return home to our Heavenly Father. I'm so glad to see that our nieces and nephews are being raised with this same love for the Savior. Last year, as a special gift for our parents, we had all the kids act out the Christmas Story- complete with costumes and songs. This year, our nephew Alex asked if he could be the one to read. He did such a fantastic job. He and Dad took turns reading, and it was just as special as it was last year.

Aunt Jackie (my brother Joe's wife) had a lapful of kids, all quietly listening to Alex and Grandpa. From left to right: Calvin, Mayzie, Mina, Jackie, and Natalie.

The other tradition we have is to exchange gifts on Christmas Eve, instead of Christmas morning. Since all of the siblings are married now, everyone tries to spend time with both sides of their family. We all get together at my parents for Christmas Eve, and then everyone goes to their in-laws on Christmas Day. For many years present opening has taken only minutes because all the kids start unwrapping at the same time. That leaves the adults with lots of, "Who was that from? Was that yours or your cousins? Did you unwrap the entire gift?" To help avoid those questions, and so we could all see what everyone got this year, we decided to have the kids open their gifts one at a time. The kids were surprisingly great about this. In this picture you can see 5 little heads watching one of the cousins unwrap their new gift.

Mom, Grandma Costabile, and Aunt Susan

My cute sister, Jane- SOOO excited to open a gift!

Dad, with his new favorite toy!

Even the "big kids" enjoyed unwrapping their gifts. :)

One of my favorite parts of the night was seeing the kids in their new pajamas. They were so excited to wear them that they all changed right in the middle of the basement. Here they are modeling their new PJs.

Alex

Mina

Natalie

Calvin

Mayzie

Our little cuties take a moment to stop and pose for the camera. The only cutey we were missing was cousin Kailey.

Alex loves to have "group hugs". Here are the cousins in their very own group hug. I love seeing all those little hands giving each other such sweet hugs.

This was the group hug right before they all toppled to the ground. Mayzie clearly knew what was happening and tried to escape before the big fall.

Christmas Eve was perfect in every way, and I'm so grateful that we could be part of it. Here are some more pictures from the evening's festivities.

Mom and Dad's beautiful Christmas Tree. This picture only begins to capture how pretty it really is. My Dad is the King of Christmas Tree lights.

Me, Joe (my big brother), and Mayzie (Joe's youngest)

Alex took my camera so he could take a picture of his pretty mom- my sister, Elizabeth.

Our beautiful niece, Kailey (Aaron & Jane's daughter) showing us her new sweater.

Aunt Kasey with her sweet nephew, Alex (Elizabeth & Ethan's oldest)

Aunt Kasey with her other adorable nephew, Calvin (Joe & Jackie's 2nd)

Dessert time! Mina (Joe & Jackie's oldest) was eying up the whip cream on her plate.

Mayzie decided to dig right in!