How We Celebrate Christmas Eve- Part 3

So after attempting to take some nice Christmas pictures, me, Emily, and the future Mr. & Mrs. Zimmerman and I finally got the green light to head home again.

Nothing super exciting happened in the next few hours.

There was cleaning.
And decorating.
And cooking.
And napping.

Your best guesses on which members of the family did what.

Anyways, then my dad's side of the family came over, and we shared an overabundance of

hors de oeuvres and delicious soups.

candid on the couch

We ate too much food.
We opened gifts.

And then photographer Stephanie decided that we need another "nice picture" of the fam.

This was the attempt.

Little R reached a meltdown at this point of the evening.  Steph made a valiant attempt to coerce her cooperation. But, to no avail.

We started packing up and the family that was not crashing here for the night began to leave.

Then, I looked over and had time to explore the gifts my family received.  And realized that my dad got a sweater vest. And he was wearing it. A. Sweater. Vest.

To be clear, my dad wears nothing of the kind.  No sweaters, no vests, no scarves, and only coats when it is -30 degrees Fahrenheit.

This moment needed pictures.

We convinced him that the sweater vest would look good with a man scarf.

He decided that he was done with picture taking, warm clothes, and daughters who wanted to play dress up.

Then he decided to play along.

And Emily got her first nice picture of the day.

Then more of us decided to join in on the nice picture phenomenon.

Steph and Steve.  Proving that plaids and stripes do go together.

Me and my mama.

A "Nice Picture" isn't it?

 We then all got to open one Christmas present before bed, a tradition we have had for as long as I can remember.  We always get a cute new pair of warm pajamas to wear to bed on Christmas Eve.  (except for the Robe Incident of '07, but we don't talk about that anymore).

Then, around midnight, we put baby Jesus in the manger.  (Before which, my mom yelled to us, "Can baby Jesus come out and play?"  It was hysterical.)

We all got comfy and ready to end a long and eventful day.

Just so you get one more picture, I wanted to share Steve's new "pajamas."  Apparently he has been wanting a robe for a long time, and this is the one he got.  He walked around in it all night, lamenting that he didn't have a bubble pipe and house slippers.

 I promised to get him some for his birthday.

More fun to come tomorrow, I am sure.