family ritual

My family’s ritual is one that last an entire night. The night is always the one before Christmas morning. My family has gathered at my grandparents house, the mom’s father and mother, every year on Christmas eve for as long as I can remember. The night always starts with dinner because we don’t have a get together without one heck of a meal. All my aunts, uncles, cousins, and nephews are there and the tradition is for all the kids to go through the line first. I have always loved this because it gives me the first taste of all my favorite foods. During dinner we always eat in the same spot. These spots are unfortunately still at the table that we sat when we were all 10 years younger, so we are all forced to eat sideways because our knees will not fit under the table.
After have the best meal of the year my family, just the intermediate one, goes to a candle light service at church. After celebrating the true meaning of Christmas at church we head back to my grandparents house for more food. This time it is dessert and on the menu every year is your pick of red velvet cake, puppy chow, sugar cookies, and much more. After eating way too much and almost to the point of being sick we all sit around and talk about life and memories.
Once the kids can’t take it anymore all the parents decided to let us open up presents. This process is always started with everyone sitting in a big circle and the youngest of the grandchildren handing out the presents that are piled high around the fresh smelling spruce tree. The youngest always opens the first present and it goes by age from there, one at a time. We all have a great time doing this every year I Christmas would not be the same without this family ritual.