A belated tradition

There's something about traditions, in this case with treasured friends, that really make me happy. Normally celebrated on Christmas Eve, this tradition is titled "English Christmas Dinner" and it includes our wonderful friends the Squires. Hailing from that beautiful country, :) they always make the most lavish, tasty, and filling dinner! The table is decorated, has personalized presents for each of us, and beautiful crackers for celebrating. If you're not familiar with this "English cracker" tradition, it's quite fun. Everyone holds one end of what looks like a big tootsie roll, and crosses their arms to hand the other end to the person on their left. Then everyone pulls at the same time, the crackers make a (rather loud) "pop", and each one contains a little present, a joke, and a crown that is to be worn the rest of the night! After dinner, we top off with an (American) birthday cake for Jesus, Christmas pudding (that we light on fire), and their cozy living room! It's an amazing night. Now, it's way past Christmas Eve, and as you can guess this year we had to adjust our schedule a bit. We still enjoyed the tradition, but with a few minor modifications. We don't miss a year, this is serious stuff! :)

Our menu was slightly different this year, not quite as traditionally English as normal, but I'm not complaining! We always get fed well!

As I said earlier, our post-dinner plans are almost the best part of the night. We go into "food coma" and enjoy the fire, and comfy couches. This time, we played a fun group game (mostly to keep our metabolism moving) as the night got later.

What a joy these friends are to us! I'm so thankful the mom's met 23 years ago. :) We did miss Jared, who was managing a NWC athletic event, but he loves this tradition as much as I do.... ...trust me.... :)

A belated Christmas eve wish - in January! hehe!
Stay tuned for some upcoming pictures of what I'm doing now (school wise)! I'll try to get you a glimpse of what my typical Saturday's look like! Hopefully some of Jared and I playing shuffleboard as well. Yah, I said that. :)