Christmas Eve....

Last year Mimi (Mimi Writes) asked bloggers to post a Christmas Peace Globe, I'm taking the liberty of posting it again this year with the same heartfelt message.

Christmas Eve has always been a busy day for me.  When the boys were young I always got up especially early to start baking mince pies and clean the house from top to bottom.     Once these chores were finished I sat down to watch my favourite film, one that was always on on Christmas Eve afternoon - Lassie!    When my youngest son was still maleable young enough to appreciate Lassie he would watch it with me.   We'd sit with a hot drink and a mince pie (or chocolate for him) and a box of tissues bcause Lassie films were always sad with a happy ending, so we cried all the way through them!

At bedtime, the boys would put out two mince pies and a small glass of whisky for Father Christmas and a carrot for Rudolph.    MWM and I were always really lucky that MIL was always willing to babysit for us on Christmas and New Year's Eve, so we could go out to celebrate.  We couldn't have too much to drink because when we got home we had to gather all the Christmas presents from their hiding places and put them under the tree ready for morning, all the time praying the boys wouldn't wake up and catch us.

On Christmas morning the boys would be awake at the crack of sparrowfart, at some ungodly hour, like all kids, but they were under strict instructions that no way should they enter the lounge before MWM and I, on pain of all their presents disappearing.   Good boys, as they were, they took what we said to heart and waited until we dragged ourselves out of bed after telling them to go back to bed at least four times at a reasonable time, so that MWM could go into the lounge to set the video camera up to capture their faces as they walked in make sure Father Christmas had left their presents before I let them in.  They always checked that the whisky, mince pies and carrots had gone so they were sure Father Christmas and Rudolph were fortified.   It was such a joy to watch their faces as they opened their presents.     We didn't have a lot of money in those days but we tried to make Christmas good for them.

We always had Christmas Dinner at home then we'd go visit the grandparents, first my parents then MWM's mother and grandmother.    Christmas Day was always fun wherever we went.

Once the boys and the grandparents got older the Christmas Day routine changed, the grandparents came to us for Christmas dinner.    That is the pattern today - the grandparents come to us and the boys come to visit us with the grandchildren then go home and have their Christmas dinner.     

What goes round comes round!

Do you have a routine at Christmas or is every one different?