Christmas Favorites and Quirks

We all kind of do Christmas our own way don't we?  Some people celebrate on Christmas Eve with a big dinner and family.  Some people celebrate Christmas day.  Some enjoy the tradition of Santa Claus and some fill children's boots on December 6 to remember the goodness of St. Nick. As a family, we celebrate advent throughout the whole month of December and remember the real reason we even have Christmas which is the birth of Jesus Christ. They all certainly make good memories and do get passed on from generation to generation.

We had a lot of traditions around holidays growing up.  I don't know that my parents purposed to make traditions, it just happened.  We did mostly the same things for each holiday and we got used to it, liked it and then counted on it. Then these things became traditions.  Out of those family memories came some of my Christmas favorites and Christmas quirks.

Quirk: LOVE Christmas music but like to save it to start after Thanksgiving.  It is fun to blast it in the house and dance around.

Favorite Song(s): Breath of Heaven by Amy Grant, One Small Child by the Tommy Coomes Band sung by Marsha Skidmore

Quirk: Song I can't stand hearing around Christmas, Christmas Wrapping by the Waitresses (there are a few more too.)

Favorite: A big Christmas dinner on Christmas day.

Quirk: In keeping with tradition, dinner isn't the same if we don't have prime rib with horseradish for the meat and twice baked potatoes.

Favorite: Mail is so much more fun during this season.  I love getting Christmas cards, especially the ones with the pictures and letters.

Quirk: I always feel sad when a card we sent out gets returned to us because of wrong address.

Favorite: At dinner (or advent devotional time) each night we pray for each family we get a card from in the mail that day.

Quirk: I don't frequent stores that don't allow or say "Christmas."  After all if it weren't for Christmas they wouldn't be getting the extra business during the season. Being "PC" is SO not my thing.

Favorite childhood tradition: We (my brother and I) used to get one "big" gift each year.  Instead of just giving it to us my parents would plan a gift hunt for us.  Each clue was a Bible verse.  One led us to another and to another until we landed upon the big gift! It was so much fun.

Quirk: I still love to go get a REAL Christmas tree. Making a day of finding the perfect three is a great memory and the pine smell is so nice in the house.

Favorite: I love to give the kids an ornament each year so that when they have their own trees later in life they have some ornaments to start with.  Ones that have special memories.

Favorite: I love to make a big night of decorating the tree with Christmas music, hot buttered apple cider or chocolate and yummy goodies. I always remember as a child someone would inevitably step on one of the Christmas tree lights as we were trying to put them up!

Quirk: We don't (and never will) decorate the tree or house before Thanksgiving. It doesn't feel right.

Favorite: We always got to open one gift on Christmas eve.

Favorite Christmas treats to make (we make them every year): Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies, Gingersnaps, Lemon Bars, Pecan Pie, Chex Muddy Buddies, and frosted sugar cookies which got dropped for a while but have since been reinstated since having children of my own. I can now make all of these Gluten free too!

Quirk: We always give our pets a gift.  I used to love to watch my dog open his present on Christmas.  I remember one time we even got my pet hamster a Christmas gift!

What are your family traditions and quirks? I would love to hear them.  They are so much fun!

I hope you are feasting on joy this Christmas season!

~Merry Christmas~