Christmas Eve Letter to Santa

It's tradition to write letters to Santa well before Chrismtas, but in our family, we also write a letter to Santa Claus on Christmas Eve. This was a tradition my mom did when she was a little girl and we still do it to this day.

After we have put on our new pajamas that we get Christmas Eve, we sit in the family room and write a letter to Santa. When we were younger, we would ask for toys and things, but now that we are older, writing this letter has become hilarious! We will ask for boyfriends or a diamond ring or fun things like that to make it interesting. Sometimes we even video it for fun memories later on.

Everyone gets a turn to say what they want to Santa and then we always end with saying that we would be happy with anything and we love Surprises!

Then, we put the letter in a pie tin. We burn it and sprinkle the ashes over the deck onto the snow. When Santa comes, he magically puts the letter together and reads what we want before leaving our gifts.

I know when I have told this tradition to some people, they think it is the wierdest thing ever! But, it has been a tradition in our family that we love so much we have even carried it on when each of us was living abroad.

Twas the Night Before Christmas

Among other Christmas Eve activities we did, we would do a 'Twas the Night Before Christmas' present exchange. My mom would buy $1 or less gifts and all of the kids would sit in a circle holding one of the wrapped gifts. She would read "The Night Before Christmas" to us, but as she did, every time we heard the word the we would pass the present to the right. Whichever gift we had at the end of the story was what we got to keep. This would also be fun for a White Elephant gift exchange at a Christmas party.

Christmas Eve Fort Sleepover

One thing my family and I did growing up was to make forts. All the kids (there were 5 of us) slept in it on Christmas Eve up until we started getting married! In the morning, my mom would come and get us and take us one by one to the entry way of the living room, where the Christmas tree and all our presents were set out. We had to keep our eyes closed. She lined all of us up and we were just giddy in anticipation. On the count of 3, we could open our eyes and dash for our stockings (which was spaced out in different areas on the couches) and Santa present (which would be laid out, unwrapped, in front of our stocking). Thanks Courtney for this idea!

Christmas Eve Pajamas

As a child, I looked forward to Christmas Eve because we got to open one of our presents...and even though 99% of the time it was new pajamas, I still got really excited. Don't forget to take a picture...this is just one of the classic shots we get every year.

Christmas Eve Cream Cheese Chicken

It's a tradition in my family to have a candlelight Christmas Eve dinner of Cream Cheese Chicken. The best part of this meal is that its delicious, but simple. It can be cooking in the crock-pot while you are doing last minute shopping!

What you'll need: 2 1/2-3 lbs. chicken breasts, 1 package Good Seasons dry Italian dressing mix, 1 can cream of mushroom soup, 1 8 oz. package of softened cream cheese

Place chicken breasts in the crock-pot. Sprinkle Italian dressing mix over the chicken. Cook 2-4 hours on high (or 5-6 hours on low). Just before the chicken is cooked, mix the cream of mushroom soup and cream cheese together. When the chicken is done, do not drain the liquid. Add soup mixture to the chicken and heat thoroughly. Serve over rice. Serves 6+