Christmas Eve

December 24, 2018

We had our family Christmas Eve party out at Kerry's.  This is usually a large gathering with extended family but it ended up being just us pretty much.  (Kerry's kids were with Kim. Pitt's were out of town. Kings and Martins went to King and Stromberg activities.)  It was very comfortable and enjoyable evening.  We all brought finger foods and treats to share.  We had pigs in a blanket, meat balls, jalepeno wraps, turkey, veggies, fruit, dips, and lots of desserts.  After mingling and eating we moved on to the talent show and then ended with the reading of Luke 2 and acting out the Nativity.  

Charity, Bryn, Ella, Tan, Dylan, Gram & Layne (Dylan and Layne are  Quetta's kiddos. Quetta is Kerry's girlfriend.)

The teen couch.  Charity, Park, Bryn, Benja & Joseph

Grandpa, Lauron and Aubrey

As you can tell from the pictures, we were a rotating group.  I feel badly because I don't have pictures of Beth, Nate, Kerry, Quetta, and even me and Brian.  I think I just kept taking pictures wherever our kids were.  (Notice Parker wearing the virtual reality glasses.  Nate brought those and was so kind to let everyone try them out.)

The Birds plus Aubrey

Every Christmas Eve we share talents as our gifts.  As my kids have gotten older it's been difficult getting adequate participation.  Luckily the past two years Aubrey has come through for us.  Last year she played the keyboard and this year she and Lauron learned a really fun dance.  A few years ago we did a silly rendition of the Twelve Days of Christmas.  Some of our past talents include piano playing, juggling and balloon animals (Brian), drums played on toy Omagles (the boys), and homemade necklace display (me and Bryn). 

This was pretty cute and kind of takes me back to our family talents.  Hudson played Jingle Bell
Rock on the keyboard while Britney held the music, the little girls range jingle bells and Braddock shot nerf bullets at the thing Adam was holding.  Go Bird family!

Shari and John Martin (aka Grandma and Grandpa Honey, aka Angelique's parents/"cousins" other grandparents)
They are a scream.  Shari has no qualms about donning a wig and lip syncing.  John swayed back and forth the whole song.  They missed the first three talents of a very short talent show because they were in the restroom getting ready.  Then their music kept glitching and they kept starting it over from the beginning.  I thought the teen couch was going to explode with laughter.  It was very entertaining and I love Shari's willingness to have fun.

Lauron and Aubrey did an AMAZING job on a cheer/dance routine.  It was really fun to watch them perform.

Chris and Ang led the family in singing "Winter Wonderland West Texas Style."  (by Chris)

Each year we end the talent show with a handstand contest.  We have had many gymnasts over the years.  Here is the 18 and up group.  I think Charity won this year.  (Although I did gymnastics in High School I was never very good at holding a handstand for longer than a few seconds.)

Parker as the star.  Gram accidentally threw out the costumes and had to order new costumes this year.  She was worried about the kids being silly especially with the star costume.  I assured her there was nothing to worry about.  We have a nativity each year and it is always very reverent.  I about DIED when Parker came out like this.  Sorry Gram.  (Usually it's 12 and under in the nativity but we were short on kids this year so it was 16 and under....what can a mom do?)

Standing: Parker and Aubrey
Front row: Braddock, Charity, Charlotte, Tanner, Hudson, Ella and Lauron