\tra*di'tion\: an activity that has existed for a long time; to hand down.the cummard family has many traditions. sometimes i think we even make up "traditions," just cause. during the "ber" months our calendars were filled...with "traditions." i enjoy getting together with my family, and love raising my kids with lots of traditions to hand down. christmas eve goes as follows: fancy dinner (pot luck) style of course.
the nativity is then acted out by all the children. read by the oldest grandchild, d3, from the bible, and the songs are sung by all (words hung above the fireplace). tills and sally switched off being the star and a wise man. parker a wise man, and conway the shepherd. quincy was an angel, ha! 
every present was wrapped with love. the gift exchange always takes the longest, and is a huge fiasco. kids are here and there, wrapping is everywhere. it is the kids favorite part though. grandma cheryl always spoils every one of us. each gift is exchanged for a love.
the best gift of all was given by cheryl to her boys. the bottom of the statue states "friends are good but brothers are better" part of our family song. so thoughtful.
the money hunt is next. the kids find their 2$ bills on the christmas tree, in a small-ish stalking. and the $20 bills are hidden for the adults...this year the boys started looking early, and cheryl was not happy about that. she hid them on something that had to do with "you." so either on something we had made or given her, or helped hang, so on and so forth.
my favorite for sure is the drawing. sad to say this year i didn't win. we can earn tickets throughout the night and then are entered into a special drawing. the drawing was for 2 ceramic santa's that cheryl had made herself. i really wanted the platter...how much jackson?
the kids also love the pinata. this year it was spidy. i think it had something to do with a commentator that calls uncle lee the spiderman...but i don't know. cons stood behind and shoved the candy into his pockets. i was laughing so hard. 
by 9:30pm we were exhausted, but had one more stop. grandma karens to open pj's. my mom started this tradition when we were small, and i've loved passing it down. i am sad that parker is growing up and is now into big kid sizes...i thought this year he'd be the only one without matching. thank goodness for children's place, they have matching from infants on up! 
we even had the pleasure of having one of santa's elves spend the night with us...for the 2nd year in a row. another tradition i'm loving! how many kids get a sleep-over on christmas eve! my kids love when uncle anthony spend the night. he's such a great uncle!
a tradition i hope we continue...for those that didn't fall asleep on the way home, they were able to make sure the reindeer's could find there way to our farm house. aunt crystal had made reindeer food for all the kids to take home and sprinkle in their grass. and they were officially d.o.n.e. by that point.
and while santa did this...
they did this...
