Tis' the Season :)

I can already sense the Christmas feeling engulfing everyone around me. Christmas is fast approaching and I feel like I'm no where near being ready. Last weekend we decorated our cabin, which is where we host Christmas Eve for my dad's side of of the family every year. It is the one thing I absolutely love. I look forward to it every year because it's something I know will always be fun. Our tradition began about 6 years ago. We used to rotate who would host Christmas between my dad's five siblings. Then we built our cabin/house. Our tradition starts a week before when all the cousins go and bake cookies at my aunt Carrie's house. Since her husband is a chef we have all the fun nozzles and cutters you can possibly imagine for our cookies. It gets to be a mess since I'm the oldest and the age ranges all the way down to one.
The fun begins typically on December 23rd. My mom, dad, sister and I are usually at the cabin first, possibly days before others so we can clean and get ready. Then the night before Christmas Eve, everybody arrives. We have carloads full of food, presents, and winter gear. The first night we're all excited and just get settled into the house. The little kids begin to run around and cause raucous. The uncles go out on the lake and begin making the hockey rink, which will soon be occupied by all the little ones. The kitchen is already in motion with all the aunts trying to get ahead on the big meals for the next day. Our Christmas tree (which is 12 feet tall), is sparkling the room with Christmas music playing as well. The uncle's and I stay up late playing cards, sneaking cookies, and giving eachother a hard time. It's funny to think this is only the first night of our celebration.
The next morning, little kids come and wake everybody up in spite of their excitement. The ladies and my uncle (the one who is a chef), are already making breakfast, starting lunch, and preparing dinner. The uncle's are gearing everybody up to go out on the lake to play some hockey. Grandma and I are in the living room making jokes and laughing hystericall, as we always do when we're together. The day goes on with more food, games, and laughter. When nighttime comes around we have our big Christmas Eve meal. Then we do the adult gift exchange, which gets to be hilarious. We then give all the grandkids their gifts. The greatest tradition we have is our uncle Tom dress up as Santa and comes and brings the presents. The kids believe this because we are "further up North". He comes barging into the house with the "Ho, Ho, Ho!" and his sack full of all the kids presents. He then distributes them and disappears outside. The kids are awestruck every year. We then unwind the night with playing with some new gifts and snacking on the last bit of cookies. We go to bed, only to wake up to Christmas morning. We usually have crepes, our great-grandma's specialty, and everyone packs up and leaves only to go to another Christmas party. This tradition is my absolute favorite because it's unique. We all have fun and it's something we will never forget. Only 18 more days!