A Landis Christmas Eve

Today I worked out for the first time since thanksgiving break.

Today I remembered why the last time I worked out was thanksgiving break.

To be perfectly honest, I really dread the idea of working out (ask my friend Blake Park). This is actually really weird. In high school all I did was work out for sports and nothing else. But it never fails...after the workout I feel really good about myself and I promise to start making work outs a regularity in my schedule. And it never fails...I don't show my face in a gym for another month.

Besides loosing my breath after 2 minutes on a treadmill, I have been getting stoked for Christmas! I love everything about it...the songs, the decorations, the cheesy movies, and especially the mistletoe. Okay. Okay. I like the idea behind the mistletoe because its a cheap way to get a kiss, but I am not sure if it really works. Someday I will let you guys know....hopefully.

But since it is the Christmas season I just wanted to share with you guys a typical Christmas Eve at the Landis household. Before I go any farther, I need to confess something. Santa still comes to our house. Yes, the youngest family member is a senior in high school, but "if you don't believe in Santa, he won't give you any presents," so says my momma. Now I don't know if that is true or not, but I'm not willing to risk the presents.

Each Christmas Eve begins with us kids bringing down the presents and placing them under the Christmas Tree. These presents are from our parents and usually consist of articles of clothing and books...remember, Santa doesn't come until the night so the good presents aren't there yet. About 4:30 in the afternoon, everyone starts getting ready to go to my grandma's house. While at my grandma's we usually meet my uncle's new girlfriend (it seems like he has a new one every year), play around with my nephews that are 1 and 4, and then eat dinner. My great-grandmother-in-law-once-removed is always there with a glass of wine in her hand, and by about the 3rd glass she is really fun to talk to.

After exchanging presents with the family members, we go to the Christmas Eve service at my church. This usually consists of me and my brothers dripping hot wax on each other from the candles they pass out to everyone. This is followed by my dad giving us a "stern" look of disgust, but we keep doing it anyways. Once the the service is over, my family goes back to the house to get ready for Santa's arrival. We used to put chocolate chip cookies on a plate for the Jolly Elf, but lately we have been setting out oatmeal cookies (my dad's favorite...I'm still not sure if there is a correlation).

After getting everything ready for the morning, its time to open one gift! Our parents always allow us to open one gift on Christmas Eve, but they get to choose which one we open. The gift is always something we can use that night. For instance, one year we received robes. Another year, we got really nice pillows. But my all-time favorite was last year's Christmas Eve's present. We all opened matching red-silky boxers trimmed in white cotton (like Santa) and our own Santa hats. I am excited to see what we get this year, though i doubt it will outdo Santa boxers.

Well, whatever your Christmas Eves consists of, I hope you get to spend it with family because that is definitely the best part! And please wish me luck on falling asleep on December 24th...it is always so difficult to go to sleep because of the excitement! Who says you need to grow up?