Every year at school my teacher would say, “Have a good break and I’ll see you next year! That is when I know my favorite time of the year is coming. My family goes to Mesa, Arizona almost every single year for Christmas. It would not be the typical place for Christmas would it? No, simply because it stays at about seventy degrees with no snow- at all. That never changed my mind about this time of the year though.

            My dad’s family lives here and he has a ton of family; his mom and dad, three sisters and four brothers with nine kids all around my age. So on Christmas Eve we all get together usually at my Aunt Sandra’s house which is where we usually stay-(and I love their house!). My dad would start off in the morning by making his famous Christmas desserts; holly wreath cookies which are frosted flakes with cherries painted green, merry-cherry cheesecakes which you can’t stop eating, and lemon bar squares which make your cheeks suck in but to good to be true. After that my cousin Wendy (who is about my age) and I, start helping wrap presents. Are parents are busy getting everything ready for the party and need help, and we love wrapping. So we jam on some music, giggle and catch up on seeing each other since summer!

Depending on the age we were, we use to make up dances to Christmas songs and perform them that night at the party. We would dress up, usually matching and sometimes we had a rehearsed dance, sometimes we just danced how ever we felt like; and all of our family would actually watch us! We would make programs for everyone and usually have my little brother Josh and her two little brothers Richie and Riley dance with us. This usually was anywhere from twenty minutes to an hour.

I remember, even though everyone was pretty busy, it felt like the day was never going to come to when the party would start. It was exhausting and annoying just waiting at times, just because I was too excited.

 When the party finally did come I just remember being so excited. I only got to see my relatives about twice a year, and they were all so fun and nice that time always flew by. My Aunt Chris Lawrence, Uncle John and three children would come very nosily through the door, I could just hear my Aunt “we are finally bloody here!”(She is from England). My Aunt Chris-mon and Aunt Katie would be walking in laughing and saying ooo oooo!! We would all repeat ooo oooo! My Uncle Mike would usually be wearing something Simpsons-it didn’t matter what (sometimes boxers on the outside of his pants!). My Aunt Sally and Uncle Mark were always late-and it didn’t matter for what family event, they usually came when the party was getting pretty good.

We would first eat our Christmas Eve dinner-and it wasn’t really dinner-just a lot of really good snacks. Besides my dads dessert, chips and dip, bread, etc. It was nice because everyone who came brought something. So the brownies would be Aunt Katie’s special and the brochette would be my Aunt Sandra’s… My absolute favorite part of this meal is my Grandmother’s chicken wings. She makes the sauce herself and it takes all day to prepare and make but I could eat them everyday.

After the meal we settle down together in the living room just stare at the gigantic mess of Christmas presents! Imagine presents for about 21 people. HUGE. Me and my cousins would then perform our Christmas songs, (enough said) then we would start unwrapping presents. My Uncle Mike is always the deliverer and hands all the presents to everyone. He usually picks a present first for the youngest child. And then it just goes crazy after that, present for you, and you, where is?, o right there, what’s that, ooo what did you get? Look what I got! And on and on, till finally the once huge mess of presents is gone. In the middle or towards the end of unwrapping gifts we would hear jingle bells at the door way, who is that?? Then pops in Santa Claus!! All of the children are very happy and scared at the same time. Santa would have us then sit on his lap, and talk to him (I figured out later Santa was usually my dad). Even most of the adults would sit on his lap! Then Santa would leave and we thought we could hear his reindeer or his bells on the top of the roof!

When it was time for everyone to go home we would run out side and look for Santa in the sky (we could always see him). Then we go back inside the house and my Grandpa always reads, “Twas the Night Before Christmas”. By the end of the story it has been a very long and fun day. We all know we will be up early tomorrow and so we go to bed. Every end to a Christmas Eve I say to myself, “That was the best night out of the year”.