Good morning, Sweet Things!
It’s one of those rare days around the Moore house when we get to sleep late. I got up about 7:30 because I like to have a few minutes before everybody else rouses around here. I just got finished with my quiet time and had you on my mind so I thought I might show you what life looks like from exactly where I’m sitting:
My man and I usually get a tree that is way too big for our low ceiling and have to cut two feet off the top. After all, we are the Moores and if medium is good, more is better. This year we got one that fits our size room a little more appropriately and is less accommodating to Star and Geli for chewing and climbing and all-around-dragging. Up front is me in my favorite house slippers. They are called “The Pinks” (forenamed by Melissa and I when we got our original pairs). Everyone in the family knows The Pinks and God forbid one of the dogs getting hold of them. I am very picky about my house slippers because my man keeps the house ten degrees below zero and my feet nearly freeze into nubs.
To the right of The Pinks you can see the very top of my favorite coffee cup. I’m annoyed at myself for not getting it in the picture better but I don’t have time to take another one and upload it. My Greek tutor, Dr. Joe Wall, and his beautiful wife gave me a set of dessert plates and cups and saucers from Russia where they train pastors. (Replicas of Catherine the Great’s official dishes.) I don’t have a ton of attachments to things but, if my house caught on fire, these would come out right after the baby pictures and the dogs. Coffee and tea drinker that I am, I love delicate cups and saucers. So do Amanda and Melissa and we have used this set no less than a thousand times. They have the added sentimental value of coming from people I love and respect so they make English tea or fresh brewed coffee taste even better.
On each side of the tree are dolls that hold candles and move their arms (hence, the blur). I’ve had them for twenty years and they mesmerize me. I could sit and stare at them for hours. Annabeth is also completely taken with them. She stands right in front of them and needs to talk to me at length about them. The one on the right has a hood on her red velvet coat and AB likes to put it on and off and on and off and with the delicate touch of a chimpanzee. Nonetheless, the doll stands tall and takes it like a trooper. If you’re wondering where the presents are, we don’t bring them out until Christmas Day because they take up too much room in our den.
Shhhhhhhh. Don’t tell them you saw what’s in them but these are my girls’ stockings:
I made each of these from kits with my own little hands right after each girl was born. (Amanda was born ten minutes after we were married. Not really. Nine and a half months to be exact and, no, I’m not kidding.) Of course, I also made a stocking for Keith and one for me. I still can’t believe I did it. (Don’t you dare ask how hard it could be. This might as well have been chiseling heads on Mt. Rushmore for me.) That was back when I had more hope of being the home goddess. I may have even had a sewing machine back then. I had high hopes of carrying on family tradition. My mom could sew anything and I didn’t have a store bought dress until junior high. My older sister, Gay, and I dressed alike all our young lives and still think it might be fun.
Uh oh. Melissa and Keith are up so I’ve run out of time. Here’s one more. It’s a picture the girls and I took yesterday at Saltgrass Steak House with Melissa’s I-phone on our Christmas shopping day. By 2:00, we hadn’t gotten a single gift but we’d eaten twice.
Oh gracious. I love those girls so much. They remain the greatest proof in my life of God’s inconceivable redemption. Even more than the ministry, as thankful as I am for it. God didn’t just do a miracle in my serving life. He did a miracle in my HOME. In my own troubled family. How Keith or I either one did not destroy this home is a mystery only God can explain.
OK, so now it’s your turn. What holds a special Christmas memory or tradition around your home? Do tell!
I love you guys so much.
PS. OK, because you insisted, here’s a close up:
And I couldn’t bring myself to show it to you empty so you just caused me to have a fourth cup of strong coffee. I’m typing really fast and feeling extra energetic. Going to get off and do handsprings in the den until I calm down.
My favorite tradition is going out to cut down a tree. My daughter and her husband cut theirs down too. It’s their 1st Christmas together! We have to pick the perfect one and I always say lets get a small one but some how it grows by the time we get it home.
Every morning I to get my coffee and turn on the lights and have my quiet time. Its just extra special this time of year. My border collie, Morgan and her ball lay right next to me this is the ONLY time she cuddles.
Well have a wonderful Christmas and enjoy His Peace.
Love ya,
Rosie
By the way I received my spiral notecards yesturday thanks to all who worked so hard to get them out:)
Traditions!! As as child, I had none. So, of course, as a mama now. I attempted to do them all.
Christmas Eve – shrimp, cheese sticks and a Christmas movie at home.
My 14 and 12 year old still sleep on the floor in our room and i go out first on Christmas morning to make sure Santa came. Santa writes a letter to my kids every year and tells them to remember the real reason of Christmas.
We leave Santa cookies and milk and we also leave food outside for the reindeer. (it is usually gnawed on when we check in the morning 🙂
I was raised in a very legalistic home and my husband wasn’t. I figure he is the most godly man I know and doing Santa didn’t damage him. 🙂
Merry Christmas Beth.
Side note – I have about 35-40 ladies from all over the community doing Breaking Free. God is doing some amazing things in these ladies lives.
Thank you for your ministry!
Our family does a big puzzle every December. We also have fun getting out all the old ornaments and remembering the story behind each one, and we take one night to drive around and look at Christmas lights. So fun!
Just wanted to say a big thank you for the spirals! Mine arrived today, and I burst into tears. My friend and I will be memorizing together…so excited!
Much love and merry Christmas to your beautiful family!
My favorite tradition that I married into is writing letters to Jesus. Every year since they were kids, each person in my husband’s family writes a letter to Jesus. We each write about the previous year and how we have seen Him work in our lives and then each person reads their letter out loud on Christmas Eve. It is such a special time, particularly in the years where the trials have been abundant. That letter is an opportunity to just lay it all out. There are almost always tears as we listen to each other share such intimate details of life spent with Him. We are now carrying on this tradition with our oldest daughter who is 4. It’s so sweet to hear her tell Jesus what she’s thankful for.
I love this tradition!! What a great idea!
When I was younger, we would gather at my grandmother’s house__with my Aunts, Uncles, and cousins. The reason I enjoyed it so much, was because my Dad was in the Air Force, we did not have many Christmas time with other family members. I loved my Grandmother so very much. She always gave me a hug when I needed one.
One year my mother got an black & white photo of my grandmother as a baby (in an old buggy)with her mom.
My mother had the photo blown up and framed. Christmas morning I remember my grandmother had tears in her eyes when she unwrapped the poster size picture.
We always enjoyed Grandma’s cream corn, black-eyed peas,
turnips, fried chicken, and so much more. Her garden was huge and she shared with her neighbors.
Both my grandmother and my mom have passed away in the last few years, but what I learned about God and the Bible came from them. They taught me the ten commandments, to love others, to give and serve God. Those are the memories I treasure in my heart.
I usually have an Italian Cream Cake, Apple Cider, Veal Bird which is a thin flake steak wrapped in a stuffing, a baked potatoe, and eight layer salad. We try to give to the elderly and needy during Christmas.
Fill those stockings good for those sweet girls! have a Blessed Christmas!
We started a new tradition a few years ago with our three children (12 year old girl and two boys 10 & 6). We wanted to instill the importance of Christmas being about Christ so on Christmas Eve the kids all sleep in our room. Then in the morning everyone crawls into our bed and we watch The Nativity Story. The kids do not leave the room until it’s done. We pray together as a family and then we go into the living room to open presents and start our day. If you ask any of the kids what their favorite part of Christmas is they all say watching the Nativity Story in the morning. I love it!
German Chocolate cake and date nut cookies(Recipe is from my Great-Grandmother)….had them every year that I can remember. My mom always fixes them and we have them for dessert with a cup of coffee on Christmas Eve…after we have opened all the presents!!!
Thanks for sharing today!!! Merry Christmas!!!
A ladies group at my church is starting Esther right after the new year. So I will be starting 2011 off right!
We usually spend Christmas Eve at my parents home with the extended family to eat and exchange gifts. Several years ago when the women in the family were not feeling very well we decided to skip the traditional fare. We started having soup and chili instead. Sure makes things easier on the cooks.
Then Christmas morning we have a big breakfast and open gifts. For the past several years we have spent the afternoon with my brothers family and had lunch of cheeseburgers.
However, both his family and mine are growing. I have a new granddaughter this year. He has a daughter in law. So things are changing for both of us. Now to make new traditions for both families.
Last night was hopefully the beginning of a new Christmas tradition around here. It was my granddaughter’s first sleepover with Nana. She stayed to give Mom & Dad a break and a much needed chance to shop.
Merry Christmas to all in Siestaville!!
As soon as you showed the stockings you made for your girls I thought of these fuzzy red elf pants my mom still hangs up every year. And she hangs them up behind to the front with the buttoned rear-end flap right there and white balls on the tips of the toes. I’m not sure why she hangs that out and why they have always been part of her Christmas decorations, but I think if they went missing we would be distraught.
She also puts one special ornament on the tree every year. It’s an ornament she received at a baby shower when she was expecting me (I’m a December baby). It’s a goose sitting on her eggs in the nest. Sounds like it could be precious, right?….It is the UGLIEST thing I have EVER seen on a Christmas tree. But one day she will pass it on to me and it will go on my tree, too. 🙂
Merry Christmas, Ms. Beth..and to all of the siestas!!
Merry Christmas to you Beth and your sweet family. When I read your tweet a little while ago that you were having your family over for beef stew and cornbread I could just see you all there having a blast together. Thanks for posting about the miracle God did in your family. Pray for my little family. We are on the verge of separation, even though we’ve been holding on for a long time now. We have two small children and will be living across the country from each other. Not optimal, but I think necessary for now. I want a miracle, but we need two willing participants!
Thanks for sharing your life with us.
Lisa C
You are absolutely right about two willing participants. I pray that the Holy Spirit provokes that willingness, little sister. We care so much.
Praying special blessings on you and your sweet family, Lisa.
Amanda blogged about choosing a stocking for AB last year and I started looking at them so …. I made a stocking for my husband who is a firefighter. Now the tradition is to make one a year till everyone has one… I love yours for the girls, every stitch made with love! Merry Christmas Beth to you and your family from Dothan, Alabama!
I love the fact that you went to great lengths to come back and post that picture! Oh how you love us!
Merry Christmas Siesta Momma and family!! Merry Christmas Siestas! You all have been such encouragement to me this year!
LOVE THE STOCKINGS!!! my mother-in-law uses the same “kits.” i married into the family september, 1984, and by golly, christmas i had my own stocking hanging on their mantle. i was the 5th stocking. this year we will have 19. (i swear, one day the mantle is going to fall off the fireplace!!) nana bought many, many kits as she knew her family would grow. every year she puts the funniest things in them. whatever she can find 19 of as we all have to have the same things!! it is always a topic of discussion as we drive over the river and through the snow to grandmother’s house. last year we all got lint brushes. go figure!! we love it!! and we love nana!!
Its a new tradition. I have a sweet daughter that I’ve not had Christmas with since the year we let her marry her sweet man. That was 2001. Just to expensive for a family of 4 to fly at Christmas. But the happy news is that webcaming is somthing we can afford to do. So this morning I read both of my Illinois grand daughters books and tomorrow we are going to watch them open presents. Merry Christmas all
This is the first year I have a grandbaby and I am so excited to start new traditions with her. I have had so many changes this year in my life and home but she is such a blessing. God is so faithful and gracious to me and I have learned to love Him deeper and deeper. Have a wondeful Christmas Beth.
Love,
Cindy
Our new tradition is going to be breakfast first (we’ll see how that goes over) with a birthday cake for Jesus, with candles and singing “Happy Birthday.” I really want to emphasize the “Jesus part” of Christmas…know what I’m saying? Then we will play, play, play!
One of the traditions we had growing up is on Christmas Eve, my mom would make her homemade hot cocoa. Then we would sip on our hot cocoa while my dad read about the birth of Jesus. Wonderful times and wonderful memories!
Thank you Mama Seista for sharing your life from us from where you sit.
Loved the pinks they look comfortable I have a pair also but mine are red with a little black and they are just what I would wear all the time if I could get away with it.
I loved the pictures of you and your daughters you all are beautiful and I am so glad you have Melissa and Clin back in Houston.
Have a wonderful Christmas and May it be Merry and Bright.
Love To the Moores, Jones , Fitzpatricks
Carol
should have read Colin
Carol
My mom made our stockings,too, and my sister has the exact same one as Melissa! (they are probably the same age) We still have them at our mom’s house. So special! We have been doing the Jesse Tree Advent celebration with our boys for a couple of years, and it is a great new tradition. We are awaiting celebrating Christ’s birth tomorrow in Singapore!
Our traditions have been forming as we have had children and have been settling them in our home. It is hard to develop new traditions as families grow and children are added. So ours are these: On Christmas Eve we (my husband and my two boys ages 7 and 3 and myself) gather around the fireplace, eat the cookies we have made for Santa, and read the real Christmas story. The boys often play with our Fontanini nativity set while we read. I love it. As we sit there by the fire with the stocking hanging above our heads, I love my family especially in that moment. The boys suggested that this year we make a b-day cake for Jesus instead of cookies. So, maybe now we that will be a new tradition. The next morning we get up and open gifts and then my parents come for a breakfast. They live down the street and love seeing our little ones with their Christmas morning excitement full-blast. The breakfast is on my wedding china with my best Christmas table cloth, but includes pillsbury cinnamon rolls fresh from the can to the oven to my table. I love it!
Merry Christmas!
Enjoy your traditions!
Dear Beth,
You.Are.So.Funny.!!! And we love you guys too!! So fun to see your pictures on here.
Oh–and my favorite tradition is one that I started with my kids when they were tiny, (now 9 and 12): the Jesus Stocking. We hang up one very important white stocking with Jesus’ name, and each Christmas Eve after church, we come home and write down what we want to give Jesus this year…then we put our name and date on it, fold it up, and put it in the stocking until the next Christmas Eve, when we pull them out and see how we did…:) Oh Jesus. We love you so much!
Merry Christmas to all of you!
Jen N. from OH
My sister and I are in our 30’s (I can only say that for 7 more months, ugh.) and my mom still insists we wake up Christmas morning at her house. Have to admit I like it.
We each get to open 1 gift on Christmas Eve.
Christmas morning the eating begins, then it takes about 2 hours for us to open all the gifts. We stay in our pj’s all day and watch movies and graze the kitchen. After dinner we play board games.
By the next morning, we’re over each other and ready to go home. That’s it. Pretty typical, very American.
The tradition I’d like to start is reading the story of Jesus’ birth and The Night Before Christmas to our son.
Well, I just got the greatest present ever! My toddler saw my laptop open to this page with the picture of you gorgeous 3 Moore women and he said ‘there’s mama.’ I have brown hair like Melissa but that’s about it.
Aaaannnd, back to reality: he just said, mama I tooted.
When I was growing up the very first thing that happened Christmas morning was that my Dad would read Luke’s account of Jesus’ birth. The year before I got married my then good friend (who later became my husband – who EVEN knew that would happen) spent Christmas with our family and was liked it enough to decide we would carry on the tradition in our own family. When the boys were little and learning to read they would take turns reading the story. We discuss what we read, pray and then head for the coffee and home-made cinnamon rolls before the presents become fair game. This year will be the first without my sweet daddy – and I’m sure there will be a tear or two but the tradition is still going strong.
Fire with my precious husband on Christmas morning before the boys wake up. The men in our family put up luminarias on Christmas eve. Thank you, Beth for having us focus on what is good. Praise Him Praise Him. The season is difficult sometimes but God is faithful.
Most of our traditions revolve around food and family – and remembering the birth of our precious Lord and Saviour. Every year my Dad would make empanadas – they became a favorite holiday treat. He passed away 2 years ago this month so my brother is carrying on the tradition. We also have a big lunch together on the 24th followed by the service at church and then a special Christmas Eve open house w/ several precious life-long family friends. Christmas morning involves PANCAKES and WAFFLES!
My Mom also hand made stockings from my brother and me and they are still hanging at her house (40 years later!).
With my own kids we’ve started some new traditions – I wrap up 24 Christmas books – we open one a day to read up till Christmas. We also have friendly elves that visit us the month of December. We also are doing “12 Days till Christmas” – each day reveals a new Christmas activity to do – making cards, cookies, watching lights, drinking hot cocoa, the Christmas story, etc.
Its a full month for us but such PRECIOUS memories!
Thank you Lord Jesus for the most Precious gift of all!
I’ve mellowed as I age and am now fairly laid back about what a stocking should look like. Also wrapping paper! Here’s what I mean: http://www.mauriandsherry.com/2010/12/20/pragmatic/
But our best family tradition is exchanging $5 stocking stuffers, which, given the size of our family, means we need big “stockings.”
My favorite Christmas memory with my mom, dad and siblings, is making popcorn balls on Christmas Eve. We did that until my mom and dad both were diagnosed with Diabetes. (not from the popcorn balls though) I got married when I was 40, and we had our first child when I was 42. She is 14 months old now, and amazed by the Christmas tree. My husband and I are already planning new traditions that our family will have. This will be our first year playing “santa” for our daughter. My husband and I both came from pretty poor backgrounds, but our parents always made Christmas special for us.
I LOVE READING YOUR BLOG. i WAS READING THE OTHER DAY AND i NEEDED TO HEAR THE VERSE ROMANS 15:13 I have read it several times and posted on my facebook. It came at such a time as this. My Mom has stage 4 lung cancer and just moved into my diningroom (only downstairs bedroom)
My son has Crohnes disease and has had a battle so bad. I saw you wrote about Dr. Joe Wall . He is so dear to me. He is my Pastors Dad and has been such a dear friend to me since my parents moved here and my dad had cancer and died 1 1/2 years ago . Pastor Joe as my Dad called him shared the Good news with my Dad and he Accepted Jesus as his Savior 32 days before he passed away. Linda is so dear to me as well. What a small world we live in.
Blessings from Hockley.
Your pastor must be Scott, Theresa! He was in my Greek class. He is a great guy and I’m so proud of the work God is doing through him. I’m also so touched to hear your story about Dr. Wall leading your Dad to Christ.
Yes Scot is my Pastor . And you are right God is doing amazing things through Pastor Scot. Magnolia is an exciting place to be because of what God is doing through our beloved Pastor Scot.
I love traditions as well.
My Children are 28, 24,18,16 & 14 . Cathy ,Rachel, Anne, Andrew & Elizabeth.
When they were little and we still do this. I buy them a new Christmas ornament every year . When they get married they get the box of ornaments they have collected through the years.
My 2 older daughters got married the same year and I bawled when I hannded them thier box of ornaments so Rachel gave me one out of her box . I almost cry every year when I pull it out of my box. She made it out of a baby food jar lid . It has cotton for the beard and two eyes drawn on with a marker.
Most of my youngest Daughters (Elizabeth’s) ornaments are cats. She loves cats .
We have added 5 Grandchildren to this mix and my tradition with them is to make ornaments. Caitilin,Peyton ,Alexis,TG & Molly . Three 4 year olds and 2 babies.
I am Blessed beyond measure.
Merry Christmas
Beth Moore I have been transformed because of God useing you to teach me HIS way. Thank you !
Blessings
Theresa
My mom has had Chrons since she was 23, and so I know what you are talking about with your son, and I can imagine that with your mom being so sick too…it has to be really hard. You will be in my thoughts and prayers.
There is also another siestas whose family member has Chrons as well, so if either of us can offer any advice of anykind, or just praying for you…please let us know:)
I read Jacob wrestling with God to mom when she was in the hospital, maybe that’s something you might read to:)
Thank you so much for praying for us. YES anytime tell me more . I love to hear what other treatments there are. Andrew is 16 and was in the Hospital in September . He had to have 4 units of blood because the Chemo drug he is on suppressed his bone marrow too much. We were there at Texas Childrens for 7 days. He is closer to Jesus because of all he has been through. God has carried us through so much . It all makes me trust him more.
I just loved hearing about your favorite stuff! Isn’t it so fascinating hearing about other people’s holiday traditions? I love that my family always opens are presents one at a time. It takes hours that way and I wouldn’t have it any other way. We go around in a circle with each of us only opening one gift at a time…that way we get to watch everyone open everything!
My dad also reads the true Christmas story from the book of Luke every Christmas morning before we open presents. My Grandpa read it to my dad and all his siblings and now we read it to my 4 year old daughter…no story…no presents!
My kids (ages 8, 5 & 3) have made it a tradition to get all of my decorations out and put them where they remember they belong. The same with the ornaments. This year I hardly had any say in it all. And I still haven’t gone in and fixed some of the ornaments that are all lumped together. But it’s ok. The tree looks beautiful with the twinkling lights and the memories of all the sentimental ornaments.
Another big tradition, tomorrow we’ll bake baby Jesus a birthday cake and celebrate His birthday on Christmas Eve when the day is more calm and less busy.
I’m excited about a tradition that my parents started that I now get to continue with my own kids since we’re living in my hometown now. We always go see the Luminarias in Old Town Albuquerque and then go to the Christmas Eve service at our church. The luminarias are so beautiful, and everyone is just so happy. One of my favorite memories as a child!
Two peas in a pod! That’s you and me sometimes, Beth. I also made Christmas stockings for my boys only I made them while I was pregnant with each one. There’s a toy soldier on each. I still remember how hard it was stuffing one of the arms of the soldiers. My mother sewed for my sister and I, too, and I still remember when we ordered “store-bought” dresses from the Sears catalog for the first time. I felt rich! LOL! Mother even made our Easter dresses with the stiff petticoats underneath. She could sew anything.
A favorite tradition of mine is setting out our Nativity scene. It’s 35 years old–I bought it my first year of marriage. One year when my boys were preschoolers I was vacuuming and I noticed Baby Jesus was missing from the manger scene. I asked where Baby Jesus was and my 4-year-old informed me that he’d been kidnapped! I demanded they put him back and my 3-year old whined, “Oh, Mom!” and pulled him out from under the couch cushions. I treasure those days. 🙂
All I can think about is how I wish I was at a Saltgrass. Love, love, love to stop at one when passing through Texas. I think there will be a Saltgrass in Heaven. My husband of twenty years and I will not be together this year for Christmas. He is working in California and I’m home in Alabama. This economy really stinks but I am so thankful he has a job. It has been a tough year for a lot of people.
My favorite Christmas memory is when I was about seven years old and I got to be Mary in the Christmas play at our church. Joseph was a year younger and about two feet shorter than I was. That made for some funny pictures. A lot of my most cherished childhood memories are of times spent in that little country church. Merry Christmas to all!!
My all-time favorite memory/tradition at Christmas is going to my Gramma’s house on Christmas Eve. They own about 100 acres of just land in south Georgia. They live in a glorified double wide – it’s seriously nice – and the food is always delicious!
I’ve got a new favorite tradition now, though – baking cookies with my mom’s 4th child (her best friend’s little boy who she’s babysat since he was 2 months old. He’s part of the family) and decorating them. There is nothing more fun than helping/watching a child decorate cookies. The creativity is great … and he sneaks as much of the icing and cookie dough as I do! =)
Merry Christmas Siesta Mama and all you Siestas. So thankful for you all!
Beth
Here at The Lopez home we start off with fresh, warm cinnamon rolls and a hot cup of java or hot chocolate for the babies 🙂 We then read the Nativity Story starting with Luke 2: 1-5 & sing ” O’ little town of bethlehem”,we proceed with reading verses 6&7, then the youngest child puts the baby Jesus in the manger while we sing, ” Away in the Manger”. Next we read verses 8-14 and then sing “Hark the Herald Angels sing”. We then read from Mathew 2: 1-2 and sing “We three Kings”. Lastly we read Mathew 2: 9-11 and end with “O Come all ye faithful”.
This has been a Beautiful tradition to not only remind us adults but also to teach our little ones the true meaning of Christmas.
Beth I had a good laugh reading about the story behind “The Pinks”. I also have a man that keeps the house about 10 degrees below zero 🙂
Merry Christmas to all of you and A Bless New Year!!!
I grew up Roman Catholic. My favorite tradition then was going to midnight mass where the altar boys and priest wore red cossacks. Sometimes, they would use incense which honestly did not smell that good to me. We would sing the traditional carols. My favorite was “Gloria in Excelsis Deo”. I loved standing next to my mother when we sang it. Neither of us sings well, but, it was just neat to do that together. After midnight mass which usually lasted about two hours, we would come home and open our gifts and eat sandwiches. Though we are no longer Roman Catholic, we still go to a Christmas Eve service together and then go to either one of my sister’s home, my home or to my mothers, eat sandwiches and exchange gifts.
well, we have always had a very unique
Christmas tradition.
Christmas eve we would go around looking
at lights and through streets lit by candles in
a paper bag. It was so awesome! I usually went
to church after by myself and family
would wait til I got home, and we would open
gifts we had for other relatives.
Christmas day: there is a sequence in how we open
gifts. Youngest goes first, then up the line.
I cannot tell you how much patience
I learned early as a child. 🙂
Dad would put on coffee and make French toast
And home fries, and mom would put on Christmas
music…one I remember well is Julie Andrews ” Deck
The Halls..” I am gonna try to sneak on WOW
Christmas this year though;)
personally, I know we have tradition and we open
gifts, but I like to see everyone open
theirs. Its hard for me to be given anything.
I’ve always been that way. My mom’s friend gave
us Christmas one year, because moms doctor cashed
a check a few days before Christmas and
Mom took everything back.
I guess I just remember, and figure that
there are more important things that could
be spent money on then me.
One of my blog friends asked what I liked for
Christmas, and I told her not to worry about it,
So she asked if it would be okay if she gave to
Compassion in my name…made me feel
like that was the best gift ever!
Seasons change throughout the year, but sharing
our hearts should not be saved for Christmas alone.
As a tradition we always bought each family member a new ornament and a “family” ornament for our tree… Now Chris, Andrew, Rachel and I still get a new one. However, Rachel gets the Barbie ornament she would have picked for herself if I had let her… I am sure she gets a BIG kick out of watching from heaven this former Barbie hater momma going to Hallmark to buy her Barbie ornament every year. I can almost hear her giggle now. She at the age of 15 passed away in April 2008. somehow, now I don’t mind having a Barbie on our tree, I just wish I had her with me to pick her out…
Our other favorite tradition is our church Christmas Eve service and for the first time in 22 years my mom, brother and sister are going with us… God is good!!!
Oh, beth – i make those stocking too! I made them for my 3 girls after my mom had made them for me and my brother and sister.
Then I started making them for my grandbabies! I have now made 6 of those babies for grandyoungins and just found out I have one more to make for next year! I have grandbaby number 7 on the way! God is so good!
Merry Christmas!!
ahhh traditions. Well, as a single Siesta, I am still a thriver on my family with holding all traditions from my childhood. Most, have gotten “put on a shelf” sadly till grandbabies (if only I could teach Momma the same lesson God has taught me- don’t wait for life to start!). However, one tradition that has stayed, despite it all, is that since my siblings and I are all still single, we all crowd in one bedroom on Christmas Eve night around 10:00 with Christmas movies (Polar Express, Santa Claus, Miracle, Wonderful life- all the goodies…. we wont choose till we are all there) and we watch movies until we fall asleep, knowing Santa wont come if we come out of the room. When we were younger, we would be banging on walls at 6 AM to get out…. as we got older, we would text my parents until they let us out…. now, we are all grown, and it is my parents who are texting and knocking on doors for us to get up on Christmas morning.
Another tradition in our family is to open one gift, and then we make a yummy breakfast. This became a tradition because we used to wait for my Grandma to get to our house before we opened anything else. She loved Christmas.She passed away last October on my birthday (very sad day for me- she was like my mother to me) and even though we knew she wouldnt be coming, we waited to open the other gifts. I hope we always wait. 🙂
Merry Christmas to you and yours Beth. Thank you for your ministry- I thank my God at every remembrance of you (which is often!) <3 Mandy
My Mom for years has bought matching pj’s for me and my sister. They can range from funny to down right cool and I mean expensive – it just depends on her mood when she purchases them. We always opened them on Christmas eve after the large family party was over and it was time of all little girls to be in bed for Santa. As children – we always looked so forward to those new pj’s and getting up on christmas morning to see what santa had brought us – in our new pj’s.
Now we have different tradtions – but those pj’s will always be my favorite!!
Merry Christmas to you my Seista Mama!! and don’t forget to fill those stockings “plum full”
Oh yes! My mom did that with us growing up too…and I now do it with my children! 🙂
What I remember was going across the bayou on the other side with my Dad and cutting down a pine tree, I am seeing that now. I miss the magic of the morning of anticipation of the stockings hanging on the stair railings, the innocency of believing in a Santa Clause though I know that is not true but the innocence of that. The thrill of can’t waiting to get up and very early to see the milk and cookies eaten and believing it was this Santa. I miss the innocence of believing. I miss hearing the “chestnuts roasting on an open fire…” by Cat King Cole with a fire place going, smells in the kitchen, the Christmas lights still glowing, the warmth of the family even though we weren’t real close but the Christmas morning made it special for me, the first few hours in the morning like a special light in my heart, I miss that so much, the innocence.
I am setting tables for 24 this evening. Family friends will gather tomorrow evening at my house for Mexican food before and after Christmas Eve services. We have all been friends for decades. Three generations will be represented tomorrow night. Where does the time go????
I have a little antique toy stove under my tree which I played with under my grandmother’s Christmas tree staring around age 2. My grandmother gave me a spirit of fun. I had no idea how much I would need that gift during such tough days. Lots of love and blessings to you and yours, An Aunt Siesta
My mother sewed all my clothes too. I am proud when I sew on a button. Merry Christmas.
When I was growing up Daddy and I would bundle up and go out on Christmas Eve, usually tramping in the snow to find the perfect tree. Then Mama and I would string popcorn for garland and put icicles on it. Daddy read the Christmas story before I went to bed anticipating Santa’s arrival. I didn’t get a lot for Christmas, a doll and in my stocking an apple, orange, a few nuts and candy, which I didn’t get any other time of the year. When our daughter was born we took her out to get the tree the Saturday after Thanksgiving. I liked to have it up earlier. Before my Mother died, the six siblings and families got together for a Christmas Eve party and exchanged gifts for the names we drew. We dressed up in our best Holiday dresses. After my daughter married and had children she did the same….Cut the tree the Saturday after Thanksgiving and we all played in the snow. Grandchilkren are so wonderful.
I LOVE You MOM,
Thank you for all the traditions you have passed down to me.
Isn’t God good? I was thinking about our family traditions today. 🙂 I have adopted most of our family traditions. My husband had 3 girls when we married so lots of traditions were already in place. I’d say food and family time are the biggest winners. I add music to them, which is why I’ve spent most of the afternoon in the kitchen singing along to some if my favorite Christmas artists and albums. I want to add reading the story of Christ’s birth this year.
Much love to you all!
We have several Christmas traditions, however, on Christmas Day my hubby reads the Christmas Story out of Luke and then we say a prayer of thanksgiving. Then we open the gifts with the Christmas music BLARING! Afterwards, we eat our warm cinnamon rolls and have the movie The Christmas Story going. We ALL stay in our PJs ALL DAY and have wonderful family time. We eat, eat, eat…of course, and we hate for the day to end.
Christmas is my favorite time of year and part of the reason are those precious traditions! My girls both get an ornament each year-so they already have quite a collection! Christmas cookies are always an adventure because, well, I don’t really know how to ‘make’ that icing, so it is always pretty thin and runny – and my girls and my man LOVE it! The cookies are usually NOT very appealing looking, but they are always eaten! Both girls always get to open one gift on Christmas Eve after we get home from our candlelight service. Santa always comes (still!) and he always overstuffs the stockings and must be left laying beside what he brought! (Santa might be a little bit of a poor planner about exactly what stockings will hold. ;/)
By the way, those stockings you made – WOW. I am so impressed. I am so uncrafty. I mean SO uncrafty. My sisters always just do any project they start for me. It is easier for them than when they’ve tried to fix what I botched. So those stockings you made – WOW! Love to you and yours – Merry Christmas!!!
Oh and one of the things I am overstuffing with- ummm…I mean Santa is overstuffing with – a Siesta Scripture Memory Notecard set for my youngest. She wants desperately to do an LPL or a Life Today taping, so I hope a promise of a trip to Houston will be a great motivator – that and her heart for Jesus!!
We always watch It’s a Wonderful Life on Christmas Eve. Always a great reminder about each life being precious.
Every year on Christmas Eve our children, grandchildren and 1 great grandson come for supper on Christmas Eve. A few years ago we started having Italian food instead of turkey and trimmings. We always have a birthday cake for Jesus and everyone in the family gives Jesus a birthday gift. We write a note to Him telling what we will give Him during the next year, such as love, worship, time, etc. We keep them all in the same box and bring it out each year to add the current year’s gifts. We each have our own envelope to keep the gifts in. It is a very special time, not just for the grandchildren but for the adults as well.
Thanks, Beth, for sharing your life with us. I very seldom post as I do not talk a lot but I read every post. I’m expecting my Scripture spirals tomorrow, just in time to give two of them to friends for Christmas. Can’t wait to start memorizing new verses. Merry Christmas to you and your family.