Every year since I've been married, Jared and I have gone back to STL to spend Christmas with my family. It's so fun because my family is young compared to Jared's since there are still kids living at home. Because Jared is the youngest in his family, he was never really able to experience many traditions other than having a big dinner on Christmas Eve. He never tried to sneak into the living room to see his presents before his parents woke up, there isn't a story that's told every year... and so I think it's awesome that he's getting to experience these things with my family. We are so stocked up on traditions it's hard to make any new ones.
This is how our traditions go.
This is how our traditions go.
Every year we draw one of our siblings names out of a hat and we get to make that person a gift for Christmas. We draw the names in September so we have plenty of time to think about what we want to make for our person.
~
~
The Monday after Thanksgiving we put up the Christmas tree for our Home Evening.
~
~
We have an advent calender in the kitchen.
~
~
On Christmas Eve, when we wake up we try to say 'Christmas Eve Gift' to as many people as we can before they say it to us... that's a tradition that my dad has carried on from his family.
~
~
My mom prepares a special dinner for us to eat that night. She likes to make it pretty and usually does a
3 course meal.
~
3 course meal.
~
Us kids put on a re-enactment of the birth of Jesus (this is also a tradition that my dad has carried on).
~
~
My dad reads a story called Jimmy Scarecrow and we LOVE how he changes his voice for the characters.
~
~
My mom reads The North Pole.
~
~
After all the stories are finished we all go upstairs to exchange presents by the Christmas tree.
We get our jammies first :) Every year my mom and dad give all of us kids new pajamas, or 'christmas jammies' as we like to call them, and we always go put them on as soon as they are opened.
~
We get our jammies first :) Every year my mom and dad give all of us kids new pajamas, or 'christmas jammies' as we like to call them, and we always go put them on as soon as they are opened.
~
We exchange our persons presents.
~
We get our present from the grandparents.
~
We get our present from the grandparents.
~
Then we all pick out our 'spot' where we want Santa to leave our presents.
~
~
All the kids have to sleep in the basement (I'm soooo glad I don't have to do this anymore since I'm married!!)
~
~
Christmas morning, when we wake up we try to say 'Christmas Gift' to as many people before they say it to us.
~
~
We always have Krispy Kreme donuts with either eggnog or chocolate milk for breakfast.
Then we all follow mom and dad upstairs and get to open our presents.
~
~
My mom has a buffet that she puts out on the table so that we can snack on yummy food all day long whenever we want.
So basically we have a TON of traditions that we do and I absolutely LOVE it. :) There are some traditions that we probably won't carry on and I'm sure Jared and I will come up with traditions of our own that we want to start in our little family.
So share! :) What are some traditions that you do in your own families?
its a neighborhood tradition that i love love love! :)
ReplyDeletea month or so before christmas you put in an order with the neighborhood committe or whoever those people are called. you order white paper bags, sand, and the little tea light candels.
then on christmas eve.. as its getting dark, we fill the paper bags with the sand, light the candles and line the yard and driveway with the lights. all the houses in our neighborhood do it, and the effect is soo pretty. we always jump in the car, listen to christmas music and drive down the neighborhood roads, looking at the luminaries lighting our way. people come from all across the city to look at the luminaries. its only our neighborhood that does it. we leave the luminaries lit all night. i love the tradition.
the anonymous comment is me, allie. i still cant figure this thing out....
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun post! I love it!!
ReplyDeleteWe have a Christmas Eve book with the story from Luke and some Christmas songs in between. We pass it around reading different parts and singing the songs. I love it!
When we were kids we also got to pick out our spot for Santa to leave the presents, and we'd place our stockings on the spot so he could find it!
This will be our first Christmas being 100% alone, and even though I'm going to miss my family (and Tom's) so much I'm so excited to do our own thing with our own family. I really want to do a nice Christmas Eve dinner, possibly with cornish game hens. :)
I guess we did more things when I was little then they did when Jared was little. We picked names every year and bought gifts for our sibling that we picked. We also picked names with our cousins on the Barney side. A lot of times we made the gifts. We always shopped with the money we earned. A couple of years Frankie shot mistle toe out of the big walnut tree in the back yard. We packaged it up and made labels and then stood outside a small grocery store and sold it. We always found ways to earn a little bit of money. Many times us kids walked down to a store that was on the corner of Peck and Lambert where we purchased gifts for our parents and grandparents. The gifts usually only cost a dollar or two. It was very fun and exciting to go shopping without an adult. When I was young we always made popcorn balls (red and green ones) banana nut bread, and other goodies that we took to friends homes. We always sang Christmas carols to the families that we delivered the gifts to. We were always excited when other families would knock on our door and sing a song and deliver plates of goodies to us.
ReplyDeleteOn Christmas Eve we would put out our stockings, but they weren't the traditional Christmas stockings. We used our everyday socks. Back then we wore knee socks, so a lot of stuff fit in them. We sang Christmas carols while Mom played the piano. Always the fun songs first and then we would end with the more sacred songs. Christmas morning we had to wait until everyone was awake before we could go into the living room to see what Santa brought. We would all walk down the hallway together (usually by 6 am) when Mom and Dad where ready and said we could go.
My last Christmas at home before I went to college was when Jared was born. Mom was very sick and still in the hospital Christmas day. We had Christmas morning without Mom and then we loaded up all of her presents and took them to the hospital. They brought Mom and Jared into a room that was big enough for us to visit. Jared was in a big Christmas Stocking. We thought that was pretty awesome. Mom opened all her presents, and then we went home. I guess Dad made Christmas dinner that year. I'm sure us older girls helped.
After that year it was always exciting to go home for Christmas. Not many years after that there were sons in law and grandchildren to bring home for Christmas. I imagine for Jared it was exciting for his siblings and neices and nephews to come for Christmas. I bet he doesn't even remember Christmas before I was married. Even though there isn't a lot of set traditions, we always looked forward to being with family, eating lots of pies, and playing games.
I love that Allie is Anonymous.. but these traditions are what make christmas so special and one of the best parts of the year :)
ReplyDelete