Christmas Eve Gathering

We met out at Kerry's for our Christmas Eve gathering.  We mingle, eat, share talents, and read Luke 2 with a Nativity by the children.  This gathering has been happening for as long as I can remember, and I love it.  

My beautiful girls.

 Everybody loves Ella!

Back row: Aubrey, Hudson, La  Front row: Emily, Jake Davidson (Charity's boyfriend), Charity, Char and Kate

 

Ashley & CJ King, Grandpa, Erin, Charity and Parker

Aileen and Alan Pitt, Gram, Donna and Spencer Thompson

Brian and I with our older kiddos.  Grandpa Honey was taking pictures for us and we were cracking up.  He said, "I will take four pictures.  Ready?"  Then he would slowly count to three and take one picture.  And then slowly say "one...two....three..." and take the next picture.  Four times!  

Nate, Beth and Quetta

I especially love the gifts we give each other by sharing our talents.  Last year our family talent was Aubrey doing a dance with Lauron.  This year the Gwilliams were the appreciators of all of the talents!  (I almost shared some crafts I had made this year but with the holiday craziness, I decided to just be an appreciator.  Maybe next year....)

The Dave Martin family shared a magic trick.  (Dave is my sister-in-law Angelique's brother.) This is the fun thing about this gathering as well...it is extended family, family related to other family members, friends, missionaries etc...  It varies from year to year.

The King family, Laurel is my 1st cousin, singing a song about how they are moving to Midland soon but they will be close.

The Bird family with a silly rendition of "The Twelve Days of Christmas."  Lincoln, 2 years old, broke out in the giggles and it made it even more fun!

Our annual handstand contest.  We have a lot of gymnasts and former gymnasts.  Hudson won the 13 and under category.  Charity won the 14 and up.  I can't even believe Kerry and Nate (44 and 42) still hold their own in this contest.

We did a "Star Wars" hula hoop contest as well.  Elementary winner: Hudson
Middle school winner: Holden  Older teen winner: Erin Meisje Adult winner: Angelique (I was second--so close.  She beat me most years at Reagan too.  Occasionally I would come out on top.  She's good.)

Donna and Spencer Thompson shared a story from a Christmas he had in Germany and then sang a song.  Notice Trump in the background.  If you look at several of these pictures, he was a prominent person this year.  (Terrifying.)

Gram shared Papa Fanning's twist on the poem "The Night Before Christmas."  He included family names and personalized it for our extended group.  Pretty sweet.  We miss our Papa Fanning.

Trump photo bomb.  

Charity accompanied Stevie and Lauron on a duet.

Ang wrapped up the talent portion of our evening by reciting from memory The Living Christ.  The spirit was so strong and everyone was very quiet as we listened to a beautiful testimony about the life of Christ.

We then mingled a little bit more while those in the Nativity got prepared.

Wise women: Ang, Ashley, Emily  Star: Danielle  Mary: Charlotte  Animal: Holden  Joseph: Dylan  Animals: Aubrey, Hudson, Lauron and Ella  Shepard: Braddock

We don't have many little ones anymore.  Lincoln, two years old, went home early.  Christian, 5 months-ish old, stayed home sick.  This is our group.  We had to recruit older teens and adults to fill some roles.  They did an amazing job fitting into tiny costumes. 

We had a very nice Christmas Eve gathering.  The focus on the birth and the life of our Savior truly brought a special spirit into our hearts.