Chinese Chicken Christmas Eve

Good Wednesday morning!

The Christmas Card Count now stands at 29! I guess everyone didn't watch Matt Lauer Monday when he announced everyone in the Continental United States would be mailing their Christmas cards that day. At least, that is what I choose to believe.

I was at Wal-Mart today, and I saw the newest toy... Kota, the Triceratops. Have you seen this? It's a dinosaur a two, three or four year-old can actually sit on. It's that big.

My guys were huge dinosaur fans back in the day. We had big plastic dinosaurs, little plastic dinosaurs, the heavy rubber dinosaurs, all the dinosaur movies, every dinosaur book ever written, etc., etc. They both loved them, so for at least six or seven years in our home, that was the major topic of discussion.

When you asked Joshua what he wanted to be when he grew up, he would simply reply, "A dinosaur."

"You mean like Barney or a person who dresses up like a dinosaur and goes to birthday parties and stuff like that?"

"No. A T-Rex. A real dinosaur."

Mike and I reasoned we wouldn't have to spend a lot on college tuition on that one. No, sir. No way you have to go to a four year college for that kind of training. He would probably just need to go to a good junior college for that degree!

Last year, the McWane Center had a big dinosaur exhibit on their third floor. They had a special where you and your dinosaur fanatic could come to the McWane Center after hours, watch Night at the Museum on the IMAX, and then spend the night on the floor with all the dinosaurs in a sleeping bag with your parent. How cool was that? I tried to be happy for all the parents with age appropriate children for this activity. I really did... but it was hard.

Just like it's hard to see this giant dinosaur the kids could have sat on, and watched dinosaur movies next to, and pushed a button to make it growl... I know. I'm sounding a little whiny.

When Roxie was two, she got one of those sturdy plastic dollhouses with the plastic furniture and the plastic little dolls. It was pink and white and very pretty, and I was thrilled it wasn't a dinosaur. One day when I went in to get her up from her nap, the first thing I saw was the mother and daddy plastic dolls lying on the floor, and four large plastic dinosaurs in the bedroom, kitchen and living room area. I quickly removed them from the dollhouse, only to be reprimanded by my two year-old little girl saying, "No, Mommy, no!"

Obviously, the dinosaur invasion of the dollhouse wasn't the work of the two boys... it was Roxie. (My heart broke a little that day.)

Last year, I could have fit all of Austin's gifts into one shirt box. It's not that he didn't get anything... everything was just expensive and tiny. I miss the shapes and the bright colors and the size of the toys when the kids were little. But I'm not bitter. Nope. Not me. Not "I'm-never-ever-going-to-hear-squeals-of-glee-as-they-open-their-surprises-from-Santa" little ol' me.

I did enjoy those years very, very much. And I hope if you're in that season of your life with little ones you are enjoying that special time, too. And I'll let you in on a little secret. Even though they don't "squeal with glee," it is kind of nice not having neon orange, yellow, red and green toys all over my autumnal colored den anymore. There I am. Always looking for the silver lining!

Now, on to the tradition...

Chinese Chicken Christmas Eve

For some reason, the Faulkner Five have always had Christmas Eve to ourselves. Mike's parents celebrate their anniversary on Christmas Eve. My parents have always gone to a friend's Christmas Eve party. My two brothers-in-law (one on each side of the family) have always spent Christmas Eve with their families, so that left us to our own devices on Christmas Eve.

We've always gone to the Candlelight Service, but when Austin was very little we decided to make the Christmas Eve meal a little different. Since we were having big meals on Christmas Day, and we had a little work to do later on Christmas Eve night, we decided to simplify.

We didn't want pizza because we had that fairly often (like every other day). We didn't want fast food like hamburgers or chicken. A lot of restaurants were closed Christmas Eve. What to do, what to do?

After watching The Christmas Story and the famous scene where the family is forced to go to a Chinese restaurant on Christmas Day because dogs ate their turkey, we decided to do the same. And, even in our small town, the Chinese restaurant was open. We ordered our meal before the Candlelight Service, and picked it up a few minutes after we left the church. Perfect. We ate Chinese Chicken on our Christmas china by candlelight. We threw away our boxes, put our plates in the dishwasher and we were good to go.

This is our 17th year celebrating this tradition. We don't know if our kids will celebrate Christmas Eve with their new families as they grow up and marry, but I think Mikie and I like Chinese food enough to keep this one going on our own.

Again, this may not work for your family, but Christmas Eve without a fortune cookie... well, it's just not Christmas Eve around here!

I'm going to have several new pictures to post tomorrow, and don't forget, I'll have a new date for you to try, also.

Have a great Wednesday, and I'll talk to you soon.