Christmas Eve

In my last post, I neglected to mention that I would like to wish that everyone has a Merry Christmas!
My family is somewhat unusual in that we celebrate Christmas on the night of the 24th, a German tradition. Under normal conditions, we would decorate the tree on the day of the 24th and then light the tree's candles in the evening and unwrap presents while the Bach Christmas Oratorio is playing on a stereo, boom box or computer. Since we have a dog, FIFO, that considers everything that falls in the floor to be his, we have been putting our tree outside on the deck. This year, my dad actually put the lights on yesterday! On the 23rd! They weren't turned on, so I suppose that is acceptable. Since my brother is visiting for fewer than 2 days, he didn't want to decorate while he was here.