Good morning, ladies!
We are swirling over here at LPM getting ready to close down for a few days over Christmas, but, I didn’t want another day to pass before I had us discussing all things traditions.
We’ve covered Christmas parties, affordable Christmas gifts, so it only seems appropriate to share our traditions with each other.
Hear me loud and clear, if you and your family don’t have many traditions or maybe you just aren’t too fond of them, no guilt whatsoever. Saturday morning I went to a Christmas brunch with some ladies from my community group and they all went around and shared some of their favorite traditions. Hearing their traditions was neat and got me thinking for what I might want to do with my own family one day. We can all learn from each other!
I did end up sharing a few things that I would losely label as traditions in our home, but I guess if you do the same thing every year, whether big or small, it’s still a tradition.
For one, my parents have served on our worship team at my church since I was a little girl. That means that the minute the doors opened at church, we were there. With that said, I can tell you the number of times we’ve missed the Christmas Eve service at church on one hand. The only reason we missed a Christmas Eve service was if we landed in Colorado that particular year to visit our family.
Secondly, and this makes our family really weird, but we open gifts s-l-o-w and l-a-t-e. It was torture when we were youngins, but as we’ve gotten older, it would be weird for us to open our gifts before two o’ clock in the afternoon. One year we went the entire day, ate our Christmas meal, visited our dear friends, then came home and opened our gifts that night. That was a one time deal, but it’s how we roll. We also open up our gifts one by one.
And that, my friends, is the extent of our family Christmas traditions.
I’m sure my mom will read this entry then proceed to call and tell me all the things we do that I left out, but for the life of me, I can’t think of one tradition we have.
Let’s hear from you, ladies. I have no doubt these are going to be some fun comments to read!
Now that our kiddos are almost all out of diapers and I feel like *some* of my sanity is returning, we have started doing an Advent calendar with one fun activity per day (we call them “Adventivities.”) I’m hoping that will be a new tradition in our home. Other than that, we always get up early on Christmas. First we open stockings, and then we open the gifts one-by-one. Oh, and another tradition is that we always make a birthday cake for Jesus. Our kiddos love that one. 🙂
Merry Christmas everyone! My family always makes and decorates cookies. When my husband and I got married, we continued his family’s traditions of reading Luke 2 before church on Christmas eve and reading the Night Before Christmas afterwards. The reading of Night Before Christmas has become a hysterical “who can fill in the rhyme” first competition!
Merry Christmas Lindsee, Beth & LPM Staff!
When I was a little girl, I had my own miniature (maybe 2 feet tall) Christmas tree in my bedroom, complete with lights and ornaments. I was always SO excited when it was time to put up the Christmas decorations, but especially my little bedroom tree. My Mom would help me and she would always share with me her memories of having a small tree in her bedroom when she was a little girl. I don’t have children (yet??) but if someday I do, I would want them to have a small tree in their bedroom during the Christmas season.
Oh, and one other detail, every night the tree lights got turned off when I went to bed… but on Christmas Eve, the tree lights got to stay on all night long! That always thrilled me!
Merry Christmas and Love to all the Siestas far and near!
Susan
Longwood, Florida
Hi Susan! I love it!!! I didn’t have a tree in my room, but I had my own tree in the “piano room” and one year, during my boy band phase (around 11, 12, 13…), my mom made me Backstreet Boys ornaments to hang on that tree!!!I still have them. Sometimes I even stick at least one on my tree I have at my house, just because it made me feel so special that I had my own tree and that my mom did that for me! (There’s still a tree in the “piano room” at my parent’s, but these days it has normal ornaments on it :))
Our traditions: I buy ornaments each year for our 3 children (now adults). I try to find one that relates to the events in their life that year. I also have been sticking a personalized note enclosed in a Christmas card inside their stockings. Just a reflection of their life through my eyes, with emphasis on God’s love in action the past 12 months. My husband reads the Christmas story from the bible before we open gifts Christmas morning.
MERRY CHRISTMAS to Beth, and all the LPM Staff!!
Merry Christmas! Our little family goes to my in laws on Christmas day, and that is a tradition. But my husband and I have one that we SO love. NOTHING goes under the tree until Christmas Eve, after the kids are in bed. We bring everything up from the basement, have some snacks and put the “Yuletide” channel on TV. They have a log in the fireplace scene (that actually gets check by someone from time to time!) that plays all sorts of nice Christmas music. And we wrap! Eat some nice snacks and wrap some more. Then, usually about 10 or 11, our very good family friend comes over and brings more snacks from his Christmas Eve celebration with his family. We laugh, chat and wrap! It is SO much fun. My husband and I talk about it ahead of time now because we look forward to it so much. Sweet times together!
We wrap on Christmas Eve too! I think I’ll add the snacks and stuff this year though. Thanks for the idea! Merry Christmas!!
We NEVER put any gifts under the tree until our children were in bed. Then, one year when the kids were in their teens, I started putting the gifts under the tree as I purchased and wrapped them. The kids came to us and begged us to never do that again. They were so upset that we broke this tradition, that we never put the gifts out early again. They are now 19, 21, & 25, and we still wait until they’re in bed.
Well, Lindsee!
I was so hoping to start a tradition last year when we hitched our little spirited gelding (horse) to the sleigh for a crisp one mile ride to our little country church. It was a truly great experience. With questionable weather on the prairies this will not be always possible. Plus I have the sole run of our little Nativity pagent this year so need to be there getting those little ones dressed and ready with parts and songs etc!
We usually go to our service, have a light supper there which if you have never been to a country potluck you have no idea what light means and it is not scant!!!We come home, open gifts then on the late nite services 45 miles away. Christmas day we kinda chill out and eat whenever the spirit moves etc. Usually a big feast around late afternoon.
Merry Christmas to Y’all!
Betty M
Our usual tradition is that we come over to our mom’s and sleepover (families and all), and we listen to Ray Coniff and open presents on Christmas Eve. During our Christmas meal we usually go around and take turns sharing different Christian meanings and history behind symbols (Christmas tree, lights, mistletoe, wreaths, etc.). After we wake up and hang out for a bit, after mom has fixed a huge Christmas breakfast, we all usually go our separate ways to the other family’s houses and then later on Christmas Day night we come back to mom’s and go to a movie!!!
This year will be different due to a change in my in-laws’s schedule, but I’m sure we will find a way to integrate some traditions!!!
Merry Christmas Beth, Lindsee, all at Living Proof, and all my fabulous siestas!!!
Well, my husband and I just got married back in May and so we’re now navigating all these holidays together trying to figure out as we go what our traditions might be. One that we did this year, that I literally just finished writing about on our blog is that we exchanged our gifts to each other on December 15. We chose this day because last year on December 15 he proposed and my Christmas present was a beautiful ring and the promise of a life together as long as the Lord allows us life and breathe! This was also the night we were using the Christmas gift I had given him – hockey tickets to see the Detroit Red Wings play in Nashville. So, technically we exchanged gifts last year on the 15th and since we couldn’t celebrate a year of engagement because we’ve already been married 7 1/2 months this was a way to celebrate that day and make it special each year!
Lindsey,
Congratulations! What a fun tradition you are starting!
Growing up my family tradition was to open one present on Christmas Eve. I love it because waiting one more day was just too much!
As kids, we were up hours before our parents, who had stayed up late assembling bicycles and Barbie houses. In the wee hours before dawn, my brother and I were allowed to open our stockings only, which Mom had filled to busting with wrapped trinkets, hoping it would take us much time to get all the way down to the toe.
Now? Same rule applies for our kids, but those stinkers are adults and want to sleep in. My husband and I bang around the kitchen making sweet rolls and hot cocoa in hopes that noise and aroma rouse them. When that fails, we jump on their beds and demand they come play.
Our granddaughter is nine months old. We have such hopes that she’ll be a pre-dawn Christmas angel. If not, we’ll hold her sleepy self next to the Christmas tree and wonder at our blessings.
We go caroling every year with our cousins, Syndee and Gregg and their girls. With us 6 and their 4, all 10 of us visit relatives and friends and sing our hearts out. None of us are going to be making a record anytime soon, but to hear those little voices lifted in song/praise makes me so happy!! It’s my absolute favorite tradition that we have during the holidays and I look forward to it all year long. We always get together before we head out and have a simple supper and then hot chocolate is the norm when we make it back, along with some games for the kids and simple “prizes” (big chocolate bar, candy canes)for the kids.
Around 10:30 they head home and every single year the kids moan that it’s over. We’ve added homes/nursing homes to our list of stops the last 3 years and we’re all hoping to add more in the coming years. Maybe eventually we can just start in the afternoon and sing till 10 or so! I’d give presents/dinners/parties up before I’d give up this tradition…it means that much to me. 🙂
Merry Christmas, Siestas and Siesta Mama. I hope your holiday is filled with love, friends, family, laughter, good food and the presence of Christ!! I’m looking forward to our SSMT in the New Year! May 2013 find all of us with hearts longing for more of Jesus and opportunities to serve Him! I love you all.
Each year my husband & I watch “It’s a Wonderful Life”. And about 8 years ago, we moved to a small town, not having a clue how they decorate for Christmas. I would not trade towns with anyone at Christmas! The entire strip is decorated & lit up, and I can’t even begin to tell you how many nativity scenes there are all over the place, the Lord is so acknowledged here. Now our new tradition is getting friends/family who have never been here to come see us during the Christmas holiday!
I love this because both my husband and I are on staff at church so we too are at church when the doors open. Every year, I have a conversation with myself about whether or not we are short changing anything, so your post brings me great comfort 🙂 Our traditions include a tamale dinner or lunch (depending on service times) Christmas Eve as well as Birthday Cake for Jesus on Christmas night. My kids look forward to these two in particular every year.
We have 4 little ones so traditions are just beginning. We have a fake tree that goes up every year around the Friday after Thanksgiving (I like to start early!)Along with this tree, we put up my nativity set. It goes on the table next to the front door. It was a gift from my husband the first Christmas we were married almost 12 years ago and is still my favorite Christmas thing to put up. I get so sad when I take it down after Christmas! This year the kids helped me put that tree up (which will be a new tradition I think) while my husband was at work. We have an advent calendar that we do every night with candy in it for the kids and my husband will read a Christmas book while they eat their candy. We ALSO drive around and look for pretty Christmas lights in the neighborhood-that’s one of our favorites too!
My husband and i started a new tradition this year. We started walking around our neighborhood after dark to look at all the Christmas lights, spend time together and get our exercise in! We get so excited when new light displays are added.
Our girls are young so we are still tweaking traditions here. My favorites are my homemade cinnamon rolls Christmas morning (that happen NO other time of the year), that my husband has put his foot down so that we go NO WHERE on Christmas day and stay home all day long with people coming to visit. Also, our girls get a large gift from Santa (because Jesus was a big gift!) and 3 gifts each from us, as Jesus got 3. We take hours to open those few gifts. Santa gift, breakfast, one gift, play, another gift, play board games, another gift, lunch. it’s an all day event that’s never about presents as much as about enjoying each other 🙂
I LOVE Christmas traditions!! Some of our favorites include: setting out nativity scene before any other decorations, going on Christmas light tour in our Christmas PJs, eating Christmas Eve dinner by candlelight, opening our gift to Jesus before our gifts, delivering Christmas goodies to neighbors while caroling, praying for families as we receive their Christmas cards. My kids are 13 and 10 and they LOVE all of these and are quick to remind us if we forget one 🙂
Off the top of my head: hiking through the mountains to get a tree (this is the first year in 28 that it wasn’t possible due to the bad fires we had this summer), sledding when there is snow, giving the girls Christmas ornaments they’ll use someday, a new calendar for each person, looking at the lights, reading the Christmas story each day through December, and our new tradition started last year: serving a meal at the local homeless shelter.
The boys are making sugar cookies to decorate with their Grandma.
This is a new tradition, and it is fun to see the two year old and four year old baking.
Merry Christmas Siestas!
Our tradition changed last year to accomdate my kids as they have a drive to get here and with our son being a minister, it was just to hard and hairy getting here. So now we wait everyone here by 5pm and dinner on the table and we feast. Then we open presents and then have dessert. Worked very well. The only things is we didnt get the devotional time as a family done, therefore this year we are making a plan ahead of time so that devotions/prayer time are pirority.
On the normal we get up open stalkings. have breakfest, bacon and eggs the works. Then we would have a devotional, normally reading the Christmas story, and prayer. and then open presents.
Oh how fun! We have several traditions…some old and some newer ones. I will give just a couple. My daughter is queen of traditions..she LOVES them and will not allow us to change anything!
OLD: My mom has always sent my two children a “child’s book” relating to the Christmas story and we would read the book after church on Christmas Eve and then let the kids open their “meem’s” gift…They are now 25 and 20 yrs old and she still sends a book ~ and we still read it aloud with all the enthusiasm a child’s book deserves.
NEW: After Christmas Eve service (before we get home to read the book) we drive around to look at all the displays of the Christmas Lights…actually last year was quite commical as we drove for over two hours trying to find “good lights”…kids and husband fell asleep and it ended up our street was the best lights we saw! …so this tradition may be up for discussion this year..will let you know next year!
Blessings to you all!
We have always opened our gifts (one at a time) on Christmas morning. This tradition has carried on with my daughter and her family as well. Our family is spread out across the state and has grown through marriage, so our time is together is limited. Dinner is potluck style, with many favorite snacks baked year after year (by request…I’ve gotten “in trouble” for not bringing a tradtional cookie, such as gingerbread!), and ALWAYS starts with the family stretched around the room holding hands as grace is said. The day is spent laughing and joking and playing family games, and taking the dreaded group picture. I say dreaded because I used to roll my eyes when mom would gather us, but these are pictures that are treasured every year. Family members have passed on, new ones arrived (by birth or marriage), and these photo memories add to the joy. And we always have traditional Christmas music playing in the background…sometimes we still play the vinyl albums (lol) and sometimes the music is on CDs. I love our family time!
Wow Christmas traditions! Mom always made a Ton of cookies to give to family and friends. I’ve carried that forward and enjoy it each year.
We open gifts on Christmas Eve and stockings Christmas morning with cinnamon rolls. Yum.
One tradition I love is after opening our gifts, if there is snow we get in trucks and drive about 1 1/2 hours, fill our trucks, drive back and dump loads of snow @ the homes of nephews nieces and friends. Last year one friends son had a broken leg. It was their only ” trip” to the snow that year. Our children are 22 and 26 now, married and this year with their pickup trucks on Christmas Eve they will head to the snow. Fun and rewarding in a big ball of snow!
Forgot to say Merry Christmas to you Lindsee and all the LPM staff!
And Merry Christmas to you too, Sharon!
Traditions…as a kid it was going to Christmas Eve 11pm service and opening gifts early Christmas morning after our stockings. My dad and step mom still do stockings for all 11 of their grand kids! They might need a bigger mantle soon =)
Now that I am a mom with eight kids we open gifts Christmas Eve. My husband and I just like Christmas Eve better. We usually shop most of the day and then wrap presents. Then we settle in with some yummy Christmas snacks and follow up with watching the Trans Siberian Orchestra Christmas DVD or Jingle All the Way. Before we open gifts we usually pray and thank the Lord. Then we start one present at a time but usually ends up in a free for all. We love it!
Can’t wait to read more–What fun!!
My family isn’t big on tradition (mostly, I think, because I was the only child at home growing up and I never could do the same thing twice!), but we do have one thing that has become tradition. We have a phrase we say after opening every gift. It can be a great gift or a pair of socks, but the person opening it always exclaims, “IT’S JUST WHAT I’VE ALWAYS WANTED!!!” Apparently, I decided to say that after every gift when I was three and we’ve kept it up ever since.
It’s not much, but it’s so fun and really helps with those awkward what-in-the-world-am-I-going-to-do-with-this-one? moments. 🙂
Merry Christmas!
Christmas is my absolute FAVORITE time of the year–and with my family we are one big tradition. My Dad would have a cow if we changed ANYTHING! I’ll just share one tradition:
On Christmas Adam (get it? the day before Christmas Eve?) my siblings and I gather at my parents’ house for soup and games and we make Christmas goodies like chocolate-dipped pretzels and rice krispies. We invite other couples/friends over and one of my younger sisters makes it her mission to get a crazy funny-face picture with each person in attendence. It is really quite hilarious. As one of seven children it is such a joy to all get together and just have fun and share in the wonderfulness that is Christmas!
Merriest of Christmases to each one of you Siestas!
I love Christmas Adam! So cute, have never heard that before.
Christmas Adam? I laughed outloud. I am so going to start using this term for December 23!! Fun, fun, fun!
Me too! Christmas Adam, I love it, and I so needed to laugh out loud today.
Much Love, Siestas, and Merry Christmas.
Patti
This year is the 2nd year I won’t be home with my family during Christmas and my first Christmas as a married woman 🙂 We are still forging some traditions. Last year we both picked out chili recipes to try and made them during the afternoon. We forgot about quanities, though, and ended up making enough chili to feed a small village, haha!
Growing up, my brother and I would be itching to get out of bed by 5am. My parents usually got up around then anyways so we would all gather together in the living room. It would be dark out and the tree would be glittering with presents underneath. That was the only light in the room. Looking back, my favorite part was seeing the scene. I liked the unknowns of what was in each box or bag more than unwrapping of them! The four of us would first pick things out of our stockings and celebrate what Santa brought. Then we would take turns handing out gifts to each other. It was a blast.
Later on, afte the sun came up, extended family came over for the biggest and best breakfast you could ask for. Eggs, bacon, potatoes, fruit, and homemade almond cake with cherries. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.
What a fun memory lane to travel down! Great idea Lindsee!
On Christmas Eve, my family always goes to the Candlelight Service at Church at 5:00. Then, we go through the drive-thru at McDonalds and get hot chocolate. Then we drive through the “Galaxy of Lights” at our Botanical Gardens which is a spectacular display of lights spanning about 5 miles. We come home and read the Night Before Christmas before the kids go to bed.
The next morning, we wake up and open presents. Then, my best friend and her family come over for a late breakfast. Finally, that evening, my Brother and his family come over for dinner — spaghetti!
For many years, my husband, my Mom and I all worked at the same company. By the time we attended each other’s company Thanksgiving and Christmas get-togethers, not to mention all of the ones for Church… we would be burnt out on Turkey and Dressing, and we were ready for something different. So, when my now 18 year old was very little, my Mom started making Spaghetti when we would come over to her house on Christmas Day night. It was something that we looked forward to every year.
Six years ago, my Mom passed away just before Christmas, and my husband passed away just after Christmas. So, to where my three young children and I wouldn’t be alone on Christmas, my best friend and her family started coming over for a late breakfast on Christmas morning before they traveled to have dinner with their extended family. And, instead of my Mom’s house now, my brother and his family come to my house. We still continue the spaghetti dinners because that is always what we have…. and it is easy to fix, so we get to enjoy time catching up instead of spending a lot of time in the kitchen cooking.
Hope you all have a blessed Christmas and a happy New Year!
We open all our presents on Christmas Eve except one which is saved under the tree for Christmas day. Since all the ladies cook the meal on Christmas day, we order out hamburgers and fries on Christmas Eve. Then on Christmas day we wake to our stockings and amazing homemade cinnamon rolls that my Mom fixes. We enjoy the morning and head to families for the afternoon.
I make a Birthday Cake for Jesus. It is a Red and white swirled cake with peppermint iscing and Sprinkled candy cane on top. Sometimes I will leave the peppermint out if someone doesnt like mint. and Just put one whole candy cany on the top. Sometimes we sing Happy Birthday and sometimes we read Luke 2. Sometimes we have it on Christmas Day and sometimes we have it Christmas Eve. It is the heart of the matter. You just roll with it.
Traditions are changing as our family is growing. My parents now have great grandchildren so it gets harder every year to keep the same pace. My niece and I are the only ones who don’t live in the same town as the rest. On Christmas eve, my sister-in-law’s aunt (who is childless)has my oldest brother’s family, my parents and I over for Christmas eve brunch. Then we start gathering in early afternoon. My niece-in-law is a Christmas Eve baby so we start with her birthday celebration complete with balloons, birthday cake and gifts for her only. Then we progress to the Christmas gift opening. Mother always makes a hot tea punch. We all sit in the same places every year. Daddy reads the Christmas story from the Bible and then we open gifts one at a time starting with the youngest going to the oldest. (This is changing this year because we are not exchanging gifts). Around 5:00 we take a break and have our spaghetti dinner. Mother’s is not the traditional spaghetti but one of her own invention. We love it. We may play a game of rook and then everyone, especially those with little ones, goes to their own homes to await the arrival of Santa Claus.
I love Christmas traditions. When my kids were younger, (they are all adults now and dont live at home) we always went the day after Thanksgiving and cut down our Christmas tree. We brought it home and decorated. Such fun. Not quite the same now but my daughter, son in law and granddaughters are carrying on the same tradition. From the time my kids were very little I gave them daily stocking stuffers from Dec 1 til Christmas. Just a little something not too expensive but individually wrapped. They especially like getting lifesavers, Pez, chocolate candy and socks. It was fun for them and fun for me. Even when they went away to college, I prepared for them stocking stuffers, wrapped and marked numerically for each day til Christmas and sent this with them when they went back after Thanksgiving. They still talk about it and laugh about all the silly stuff they had in their stockings. This was the first year I did not have to do it. Sort of missed it. Thanks for bringing to mind great family time. Merry Christmas!
I love reading about everyone’s traditions!! Our tree goes up the weekend before Thanksgiving. We make cookies and candies on the 1st or 2nd weekend of December. I have three boys and i take a fun picture of the three of them to include in my annual Christmas letter to distant friends and family. We celebrate Christmas Eve with my family and Christmas morning with the kiddos and Christmas afternoon with the hubbys family. Everyone brings their favorite dishes to pass and there is always polish sausage! We always go to church on Christmas Eve and before opening gifts, we first read Luke 2. When opening gifts, we go one by one so that everyone can see. Prior to Christmas I take my boys to the Children’s theater for a mother son day, and last but not least, we drive around and look at Christmas lights while eating donuts.
All of my family live in the same town but on Christmas Eve we all spend the night at my moms. Our husbands and kids in tow we gather there late at night and talk and talk to we can’t keep our eyes open. Then all through the night you will here people walking to the living room to leave little stocking stuffers in everyone’s stocking. We even set our alarms for like 3:00am so that no one will catch you leaving your goodies. Then our children will wake us up to open Santa gifts and everyone’s stocking is over flowing!! And no one will admit to who put what in whos stocking. So much fun!!!
Hi, Lindsee! Before opening presents Christmas morning, we have a birthday party for Jesus … our breakfast is usually a cupcake for each one of us with a candle to blow out. The girls love it, and it helps us to reflect on Jesus. Then the girls run to open presents!
Have a wonderful, special Christmas!
We go to Christmas Eve service, go look at lights, have a brunch upon returning home, and then watch “Its A Wonderful Life” though it nearly kills my teenagers when we watch, but they do it every year so I tend to think though they whine a bit, in their hearts they like it as much as my dear hubby and I.
My mother was the eldest of nine children. She always hosted her siblings for lunch/dinner a week or so before Christmas. When she passed away in 1980 I assumed this tradition. We have anywhere from 30-60 adults and children the Sunday before Christmas for a potluck dinner. We live in a rural area and on our five acres we plan and hide a treasure box for the little ones.(ages 1 to 16)then write creative clues that take them all over the property to find the treasure. Even though the treasure is just a bunch of little stuff, the kids look forward to it all year long. It’s wonderful to watch their little faces. I love all of you LPL, Merry “Christ”mas.
Now my siblings and I have families of our own, we still get together for our childhood tradition on Christmas Eve of turkey dinner, watching “Christmas Story” and opening jammies from our mom. Yes, she still gives everyone, adults and grandchildren jammies and we hang out all Christmas day in them!
My friend and I bake cookies every year to share with family, friends, and teachers. Since our children are married to each other, and we share grandchildren, we spend Chistmas eve and Christmas together. I also, cook Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve. We skype my son and his family in Austraila, and watch them open their presents. It is Christmas morning there. Christmas Day, we play with the children and make lasangna.
We of course have the same traditions as many of you, baking and decorating cookies, placing special ornaments on the tree, etc. And growing up my family had many traditions, one that has lasted is drinking my grandmothers Hot Russian Tea from her antique cups & saucers, we each have one that is “ours”. Mine is a pearlized robins egg blue, with roses inside and trimmed in gold. And this ladies is no powder Russian tea, it’s the real thing with a dozen ingredients and takes a whole day to cook till its just right.
When my husband and I began our own family 20 years ago we decided we wanted a special tradition that was all our own, a Christmas Day movie! Our Christmas Day movie selections over the years stand as a sort of time capsuled glimps into our family at the time. This year has been difficult in planning to get everyone together, as we grow and also with the recent passing of my father-in-law. We’ve had to forgo a few of our basic traditions. But my kids have made sure that we make time on Christmas Day for our movie. This year, kids pick…Les Miserables.
Merry Christmas my Siestas!!
When I was little my family were missionaries in the amazon in the country of Peru. My mother clung to her swedish traditions and we made “pepparkakor” and sang old swedish Christmas songs. But the one thing she insisted on was having a recording of my Grandpa who was a pastor reading the Christmas story in Luke 2 KJV.
My Grandpa is in heaven now, but every year I put on swedish Christmas songs and make pepparkakor. My husband reads the Christmas story, but only the King James Version. I love all, the different translations, but it must be KJV for Christmas Eve.
That’s my tradition.
Heidi
Over the years I’ve seen beloved traditions change with life’s circumstances. Family members have left us and we’ve added more. The memories of the past traditions are so precious and the current ones are just as sweet. My mother, who is now 85 years young, takes Christmas very seriously. With 5 adult kids, 9 grandkids, and 3 great-grand daughters (not to mention spouses), gift giving is like a well-oiled machine. When everyone gets to our parents house all the presents go into the main bedroom where my Mom divides them out by person and we each have a shopping bag with our names on it with all our gifts inside. I think her strategy is that afterwards we have a nice bag we can put our goodies in and travel back home from whence we came. After a wonderful Christmas dinner, we setup the living room into a big circle and everyone takes a seat. The bags come out and are given to each person. We take turns opening one by one until there are no more to open. There is even a large trash bag on hand to pitch the wrapping paper into. When we are finished, which can take some time, there is hardly a mess. We have so much fun watching everyone opening their gifts. Then it’s coffee and dessert time and lots of laughing and relaxing. Later there is always a major “Keyword” marathon. It’s great having 3 little ones again to watch Christmas through their eyes. I am so blessed and grateful for my family. Merry Christmas to everyone and a joy-filled 2013.
Selina from Barbourville, KY.
Church services and the church Christmas play are a big part of our traditions. My husband is a minister so church keeps us very busy this time of the year but I wouldn’t have it any other way.! My family always goes to my parents house on Christmas Eve. We have a little potluck Christmas party and open gifts there then we come home.We all change into our warm PJ’s and then meet in the living room to open our gifts, then we finish the night out with lights out, Christmas tree on and watch Christmas movies until we all are so tired we have to go to bed.We sleep in on Christmas morning then have Christmas dinner.
Apparently, our family tradition, which began last year is to pass around the stomach virus the week before Christmas. Ugh! I’m reliving last year’s drama with trying to get last minute gifts while wiping up. . . well, let’s not go there! In a family of seven (five littles and two adults) it takes a bit to finally get it out of the family. But our real traditions are the Jesse tree (thanks, Ann Voscamp) an advent calendar in which we do one giving thing (like write thank you notes for our trash guy and mail person) each day and have one treat! This year we are also planning a party for a community of Burundians living in our area. We really hope to make this a tradtition. Love the holidays, vomit and all!
Oh, forgot this one. I wrap up Christmas books and every night of the week (usually a few weeks before Christmas) the children take turns picking out a book, opening and then we read it together!
We are new grandparents and want to start new traditions. I bought her 1st ornament for christmas and think I will do this every year. I am getting new ideas now,thank you
Merry Christmas everyone!!!
Growing up, we all went to my grandmother’s house over Thanksgiving break to make Christmas cookies. Since we now live so far from family and can’t be there every year, I’ve tried to continue the cookie making tradition with our children. I also buy ornaments for each child and this year we started making ornaments every day in December for our advent tree. We also let our children open matching pajamas on Christmas Eve and our oldest always looks forward to what kind they’ll be each year. (Our youngest are only 2 years old and 6 months old so they don’t care yet.) We like to drive around looking at Christmas lights in our pjs sometimes too! Goodness, I didn’t realize we had so many traditions!
Lindsee,
We don’t have too many tradition either. The one that stands out in my mind is getting up at about 3 am to open gifts. We have done it since my sister was 3 and I was 7. We also watch movies all day long. I really wouldn’t trade these two things for all the gifts in the world. Have a very merry Christmas. Love ya, Lynda
My favorite family tradition is with my mom’s side of the family. My sister and I are the youngest cousins (26 & 28 now), but we have always sung Mitch Miller’s Christmas carols at the top of our lungs with our entire family! It was a competition between my dad and my older male cousins to see who could do the deepest “Ho, Ho, Ho” in the song “Must Be Santa.” Then, my grandmother would read the Christmas story from Luke. Finally, we could open our presents! The best part was waking up Christmas morning. My cousins made the biggest stink out of all of our new toys and would embarrass my little sister and I to no end when we pulled our underwear out of our stockings. But Santa has brought us underwear in our stockings every year without fail. 28 years and counting!
Merry Christmas! Christmas traditions are some of my favorite. We are a young family but here are a few. Each year we buy a new Christmas book. We celebrate on Christmas Eve so on Christmas Eve Eve, we get new pajamas. We eat coffee cake for breakfast on Christmas Eve morning and then travel to be with family for Christmas Day. Our newest tradition is our Ebenezer tree.
As each of our four children started first grade, they memorized Luke 2:4-14 to recite for the family at Christmas. They are now all 20-somethings & still all say it together before we open presents.