Another Yuletide Over

Guess what? I Christmassed again this year!

Christmas version 2017 included such traditional delights as:

-Lunch with sisters! The weather was pretty bad, so we ended up at the same restaurant we lunched at last year. Which is against the Little Sisters' Annual Christmas Eve Lunch rules, but we already broke the rules by letting Older Sister come last year and this year (since she no longer lives in town and we don't see her much). Plus Baby Sister wasn't here, so we just broke rules all over the place like a slap in the face of the tradition founders. Who are us. So we basically slapped our own faces. Ouch.

-Christmas Eve dinner with my mom's family! Each family unit exchanged small gifts and Christmas cards before dinner started. This year, I got a lot of chocolate and some popcorn and my own personal bottle of Martinelli's. I loved that, but it was a little awkward to be given my own gifts because, being unmarried, I don't consider myself to be my own family unit, so I didn't bring anything for everyone else. I just piggybacked on my parents' gifts. Someday, though. (Fingers crossed.)

-Presentation of the nativity story! The older cousins round up the little cousins and persuade them to dress up as sheep or shepherds or wisemen. This year, Dino Cousin's mom encouraged Dino Cousin (who is four years old) to join the nativity. We asked Dino Cousin what she wanted to be: a sheep or a shepherd or a wiseman? Without batting an eye, Dino Cousin said, "Jesus." We always have the newest baby or a doll play Baby Jesus, but we weren't about to refuse Dino Cousin, so we said okay. When Dino Cousin's mom came to the rehearsal area, she asked Dino Cousin who she was going to be. Dino Cousin promptly said, "Jesus Christ." It was equally adorable and amusing.

(P.S. If you ever wonder why I have such a prodigious amount of cousins, it's because not only do I have quite a few first cousins, I also know many of my parents' cousins (my first cousins once removed), their kids (my second cousins), my first cousins' kids (also my first cousins once removed), and my second cousins' kids (my second cousins once removed). Many of us see each other regularly.)

-A slideshow review of the year! There are ~five pictures of each extended family member in the slideshow, and since the family keeps growing, the show just keeps getting longer and longer. (Re: prodigious amount of cousins.)

-Waking up really early on Christmas morning and annoying our parents! We then gather in a line (age order, youngest to oldest; this year Mr. Little Sister was between me and Little Sister) and rush into the living room to open our presents from Santa and each other. (Yes, we all still get presents from Santa. Santa is legit, and no one will ever convince me not to believe in him.)

We also had a few novelties this year:

-Christmas Eve was on a Sunday, something that hasn't happened for years. The Little Sisters' Annual Christmas Eve Lunch was therefore held on the 23rd and not the 24th. (P.S. I found out that Valiant and her six sisters all get lunch together on Christmas Eve, too! How interesting.) My ward had one hour of church in the morning combined with some other wards in the stake. The program was mostly music, which was lovely. I sat with Best Friend Boy. He got a real kick out of trying to predict what Christmas hymn we'd be singing next.

-We got to talk to Baby Sister. (Most of the time, missionaries call home only on Christmas Day and Mother's Day.) She's a cutie patootie. Even though her mission is English-speaking, she's learning some Marshallese because of the area in which she's serving. She told us that she was the happiest she's ever been.

All in all, a good day during a good season. Now on to the new year.