Christmas memories...Part 1

All this week I'm going to share some favorite Christmas memories, mostly mine- but there are a few from John as well.

One of my fondest memories at Christmas - was waiting for my grandparents to arrive on Christmas Eve. My family always did Christmas Eve- dinner, presents, dessert. The festivities would start as soon as my grandparents arrived...which usually wasn't until about 6 or 7pm.

I'm not sure what it is about December 24th- but it is the SLOWEST day of the year. It seems to drag on for way more than 24 hours...waking up completely ecstatic that the day is finally here! We're finally going to get to open our gifts...we just have to wait until gma and gpa get here....ughhhh! I swear some years- the clock actually stopped!

Around 5pm we would start waiting by the kitchen window, watching for headlights to come down the road. My brothers and I would sometimes take shifts to pass the time. I'm quite certain we drove my mother nuts! All of sudden you would see some headlights coming down the street and you hoped with all your might it was them. Because that meant it would soon be gift time. I'm sure all that anticipation aged us and the crushing disappointment that followed as the headlights drove on by..but it was always well worth it when the headlights pulled up and stopped at our house!

I loved watching my gpa get out the car with his black plastic trashbag full of gifts slung over his shoulder like Santa man. And no matter how much bickering and arguing my brothers and I were doing- it always stopped right then- with one of us running around the house shouting THEY'RE HERE!!! THEY'RE HERE!! The excitement was contagious and the merryment soon commenced.