Well, here we are. Five days until Christmas!! I LOVE this time of year. Decorating, baking, parties with family and friends, the music, buying and wrapping gifts, sitting in front of the fireplace...yes, occasionally we need to use the fireplace in Texas...:)
I don't remember too much about Santa being a part of our family tradition. I have no idea when I stopped believing in him. I do remember staring out the window for signs of a sleigh, at the age of four, on Christmas Eve in Guam -long after I was supposed to be asleep. One thing's for sure, the year I was 15 and Mom wrote "From: Santa" on all the gifts...I really didn't buy it.
Here are some of my favorite Christmas traditions:
-Advent- we carefully light the candles (one new candle each Sunday before Christmas) and read through the prophecies of Jesus' coming, sing Christmas carols, and pray together. That I remember doing since I was very young.
-Putting up the tree- we have an artificial tree. It has traveled all over with us and was a tiny piece of consistency amidst the chaos of adjusting to new homes and bedrooms as we served in the military. Thankfully, we no longer fight over who gets to put the (sad-looking) vintage crocheted angel on the top of our tree. The top bristles on the tree are permanently smashed down due to that angel. Colored lights are the only kind used on the tree and we still have some old ornaments from when we were babies- though we act embarrassed and try to hid them on the least visible side of the tree.
One year, I remember we tried a live tree. The needles kept falling and getting tracked all over the house by my sisters and I- it drove our Mom, crazy. The thing that ended live trees for our family? It fell and just missed hitting my little sister. It could have killed her. So, our trusty, old artificial tree (still in the original box with about 3 inches of tape holding it together) gets to grace our house every December.
-Stockings- Several places we lived did NOT have fireplaces or mantles...bookshelves or pegs on the wall sufficed. My Mom handmade all of our stockings-except for Sally's. She was born at a busy time in my Mom's life (3 other young daughters to care for and my Dad constantly on aircraft carriers), so my Mom bought a beautiful white lace stocking. And years later, cross-stitched a pretty angel which was then safety-pinned onto the stocking. It remains that way today. The rule for stockings? They can be opened on Christmas morning without waking the parents. Though that has morphed some. When Sally and Becca were younger, they got the brilliant idea that midnight= Christmas morning. They would shove Abby and I out of our beds to join them in gloating over our plunder...after a year or two, they eventually gave up and let us sleep. Stockings usually contained candy and gum, along with whatever other cute small items my Mom and Dad found.
Do you hold advent with your family? Or did you ever? Are you a real or "fake" tree, person?
Did/ does your family have any special traditions? I want to know! Sometimes hearing other people's traditions gives me ideas!
One year, some people told my parents that they made their kids do a puzzle before they were allowed to wake the parents...my parents tried it. I'm pretty sure they got to sleep in and found us toiling over that puzzle on the floor near the tree that Christmas. We veto-ed that tradition. But it was worth a shot! I might even try it someday if I ever have my own kids (and need sleep!) :)
I hope that you are treasuring this week and getting to spend it with loved ones!
We always have a real tree, but once I went to college, we started buying it later. In fact, Dad and I are going to get it tonight, and it will come down promptly the morning of the 26th, because the needles get all over the place and it's a pain to hazard. I think every year we get closer to switching to an artificial tree.
ReplyDeleteMom made all of our stockings, too, and none of them match. Today we made a new one for the soon-to-be addition to the family!
My brothers always try to negotiate the earliest possible time to open presents on Christmas morning. It wasn't so much that they wanted to open presents; they just wanted to make me get up at 6:00am!
A few years ago, we started memorizing parts of Luke 2. Each person would be assigned a few verses, and then we'd all recite them and tell the story together. This usually means at least two of us are scrambling for a Bible about 20 minutes before and speed-memorizing, but it does get said.
Heather I love it! Memorizing parts of the story beforehand and telling it together...what a great idea! :)
ReplyDeleteOur stockings don't match either (except for the parents since they were made the same year...:)
I want to see y'all's stocking's now...I bet Trevor's excited to be getting one! ;)
I have to have a fake tree because I'm allergic to evergreens. I still use the same little 5' tree that my dad got at a Black Friday sale at Garden Ridge. This was when he still lived in Graham, so he had to get up at like 3 AM and drive for an hour and a half to get it. But hey, it was $15, and it still graces the exact same spot with the exact same decorations that it's had for over a decade.
ReplyDeleteAs for traditions, we always open presents on Christmas Eve and have a big lunch on Christmas Day. Every year, my Dad acts like he doesn't remember that it's Christmas Eve, and he will not say anything about opening presents. He sits quietly while we watch It's a Wonderful Life or Miracle on 31st Street and waits until one of the other family members can't take it anymore and asks when we will open presents. One year this battle of wills went until 11 PM.