Friday, December 24, 2010

Christmas Eve - our way!

It is Christmas Eve, a day that has evolved to become a favourite part of my festivities.

I am un-busy making preparations for this evening, while the rest of the household are at work (or, in Kieran's case, still in bed at 2pm!). Many years ago, we decided to make Christmas breakfast our special meal, but as the kids got older and got up later on the Big Day, the time between a big breakfast and a big lunch became impossibly short. So last year we moved our breakfast meal to Christmas Eve dinner and it works perfectly! Any leftovers can be had in the morning and it is a relatively simple process to prepare and clean up after.

Our menu stays pretty much the same each year - bacon and eggs, buttermilk pancakes with blueberry syrup, croissants and jam, freshly squeezed orange juice and sometimes extra like Christmas muffins. This year, we are adding fruit toast and French toast.

Tonight we will be joined by the newly-weds and will make a variation on the other tradition. For years, watching Carols by Candlelight has been the evening activity, but tonight we will watch only part, to enable us to enjoy A Very Specky Christmas, with the Spicks and Specks team! Then we can switch over and watch the rest of the Carols.

This is the night of the year that I light every single candle I can find in the house and turn of all the other lights. The flickering lights bouncing off mirrors, windows and other shiny surfaces make for a magical atmosphere. It is my very own treat, although I think Melissa enjoys it just as much as I do!

Traditions at Christmas are important, but they don't need to be rigid. They also don't need to be traditional!

I am looking forward to a magical Christmas and hope you all are too.

2 comments:

Tara said...

This sounds wonderful! Merry Christmas, Yvette and family!

T&T

Tangerine Meg said...

I have so enjoyed (finally) catching up with your posts (from about the past month!). Thank you for sharing your family, your photos and your reverb writings! Hope you had a great day yesterday, and that the year ahead brings much wonderfulness :)