What are you looking MOST forward to this Christmas?

[zchristy]

What are you looking MOST forward to this Christmas? Me, I'm looking forward to our Christmas Eve Shindig here and having 10 days off with my kids and hubby. I may not get out of my PJs the whole week.

 

[teachermomof2]

VACATION!! No school! Time with family and friends...

 

[Winged One]

DH being home from abroad, and having no one else in the house for a few days (we get on great with the current au pair, but I miss having the house to ourselves and we'll have a 3 week gap between APs).

 

[SparkleNana]

What a great idea for a thread!!!

I am MOST looking forward to.... the Childrens' Christmas Eve Service... at 5:00 on Christmas Eve.

The church is beautiful... with candlelight.
The children are ALL encourages to come forward... to the manger scene.... while the Bible is read... about the birth of Christ.
Children are encouraged to wear "costumes"... for this extremely brief... Christmas play.

And the children DO wear costumes. The older ones dress as shepherds or Wise Men (and Mary and Joseph are chosen and given costumes).
The younger children wear costumes... of their own choice!
There are LOTS of little angels and princesses.
There is usually a batman and a spiderman.... and lots of "animals".
My favorite was the "lobster"!

Sometimes.... we have an exteneded-family dinner after this service.
Sometimes... we all get home... to prepare for Christmas Day!

It is a funny, joyful, magical celebration of a miracle!

 

[Kim Loves Snow]

What am I most looking forward to? Well, because the boys will be with their mom and her side of the family from 12/17 - 12/26, I have two things I'm most looking forward to. First is going to my parents house from 12/23 - 12/26. This will be the first time in over 11 years that my brother and his family will be with me and my parents on Christmas day. I'm excited about seeing my nieces on Christmas day. I wish the boys could be with us, but it will still be special to be together as an almost complete family.

The second thing I'm most looking forward to is December 30 - January 1. My parents, DH's parents and one sister, and the boys will all be together for New Years and the celebration of Christmas with the boys. My parents and me and DH will have already exchanged Christmas gifts but we are saving stocking stuffers to do with everyone. Everyone will be at our home and we are planning some fun (and optional) activities and lots of time to chat and catch up, play games or just rest and read. We will have a secret santa gift exchange and we will also celebrate DH's Christmas eve birthday so that his family can be there for that celebration.

For the food, I've decided on 12/31 I will do a soup and salad bar with three yummy soups that I've made ahead of time and a salad bar set out with lots of toppings.

I could go on and on - I'm very excited about this year!

 

[sierra_mtns]

I can't wait to start my Christmas vacation. 11 days. :snowball:

 

[FrostyShimmer]

I'm looking forward to seeing DD's reaction to everything. She loves paper and ribbons, so she should have a field day.
Also looking forward to baking. I love baking and at Christmas I can make a ton of stuff and give it away. Love that.

 

[appleton]

Its really hard to pick just one, but I think its cutting our tree & decorating it. We wait until mid December as we leave it up into January. This Sunday is our day. It takes us several nights after work to get it decorated since our work schedules get a little hectic this month.

I feel a little silly post this since most decorated the weekend after Thanksgiving.

 

[SparkleNana]

Appleton.... no... we all have different time to get the tree up. For example.... our tree has been up for days.... and just has the lights on it! No decorations! You're doing great! Baby steps!

 

[Bren]

I can't wait to see the kids faces when they open their presents. There are quite a few surprises they have no idea about & I'm so excited to see their reactions! I have to share one of them....most people won't "get it" unless they are Harry Potter fans, but my daughter(14) will be getting a Cornish Pixie in a cage. My brother made it (his gift to her) and it looks AMAZING! He makes & sells props so he really did a fantastic job. She is going to freak out! LOL.

The kids aren't thrilled about Christmas landing on a Sunday because we will head to church (and they don't want to leave their fun presents). I like it that Jesus' Birthday is on a Sunday. It really reminds me of what the season is all about. I am looking forward to Sunday service;o).

Bren

 

[MrsSoup]

I'm most looking forward to having us all together this year for the holidays. Last year DH was deployed to Iraq, but now he's home and i'm looking forward to sharing the holidays with him.

 

[Cindylouwho]

I'm looking most forward to the kids being off for Christmas Break. Can't wait for the downtime with them and am trying to wrap up my life so that nothing interrupts it for a couple weeks. Have my fingers crossed for snow on Christmas Day! (but not a moment before!) I'm looking forward to some time on the Wii with my DS playing Harvest Moon Animal Parade which I haven't played since last Christmas!

 

[Winged One]

Appleton, we haven't even bought our tree yet - if they are selling them in school again this year we will get it on Sunday, otherwise we may manage this weekend or next. And I know a good few who don't decorate until Christmas Eve (during the day, or even one who does it after the kids go to bed so it's there when they wake!).

 

[Cathymac]

I'm looking forward to Christmas Eve. We'll start the day with brunch and gift exchanges with DH's side of the family at our house. We'll have strawberry-cream cheese pastries, fresh fruit, baked egg and sausage casserole, cottage potatoes, biscuits and croissants with butter, jelly and home grown honey, coffee, tea and juices.

Later, we'll have dinner with our best friends, again at our house. We'll have pizza snacks (crescents with pepperoni and cheese rolled up and baked), sausage in pastry, red and green salsas and chips, chili, white chili and beef stew, corn bread, broccoli cornbread, beer bread and desserts. I'm making a chocolate trifle. Yum. We'll eat, exchange small gifts and maybe watch a movie...or most likely just talk. I'll give everyone pj's for Christmas Eve favors.

Christmas morning we'll open presents and have a quick breakfast of Bavarian Cream pastries with coffee, juice and milk. Then we'll go to church, then back home until 4 pm when we'll go to my mom's to have dinner with my side of the family-ribeyes and the fixings!

Funny how I always describe the food!! Can't wait!

 

[luludou]

Bren I'd love a pixie in a cage! fantastic!!

Looking forward to spending time with my family, and hoping to be able to rest, rest, rest.

 

[HouseElf]

Vacation, 2 weeks off

 

[aggy]

HouseElf I'm with you. My last day at work is Thursday. Then I will be on vacation until the new year.

 

[aggy]

I'm also looking forward to being with my family on Christmas Eve. I have already started receiving RSVPs.

 

[Ahorsesoul]

I will have to be honest. Looking forward to the food and goodies. I am such a foodie. lol

Eggnog, prime rib, pickled herring, chocolate covered cherries, special cookies, all things I do not have the rest of the year.

And I really like seeing my Christmas tree with the lights on and the room lights off.

 

[missjane]

I'm looking forward to the Sunday service, too. We always do Christmas at my house on Christmas morning with brunch after, so that will have to be a little different. Not sure how all that will work just yet.

Then, I'm looking forward to everyone opening their presents. I've gone with one major gift and a couple of small ones this year, and the major one is something eack one really, really wanted. I can't wait to see their reactions. I still have to get DDIL's, but I have all the other kids' gifts.