I want to thank Heather for graciously allowing me a guest post at her blog
The topic I chose for this blog post is
Creating Christmas Traditions
Up until this past year I never gave a thought to what we did as a family at Christmas.
The things we did to celebrate, were always just the things we always did.
Growing up our Christmas went like this :
Church, dinner, visiting, open one gift, sleep, stockings and Santa.
I realize now that we still do the SAME thing... and although some may think doing the same thing is boring and mundane, to me it is comfort and Christmas.
Even though I am now married for 10 years, we go to the same church service each year, we eat the same Christmas Eve dinner, we open one gift, go to sleep and open gifts from Santa, visit my parents and open our stockings and gifts and eat the same meal.
My mom still puts an orange in my stocking ~ yes, I still get a stocking, the same one from when I was a kid that was hand knitted by my neighbor.
The thing is the orange in the foot of the stocking did not start with my mom, it started with my grandma who put an orange in my moms stocking when my mom was just a little kid.
I never thought that what we did each year was tradition. I always thought that you needed some big life milestone to create a tradition.
As I was helping my mom put the table cloth on the dining room table on Christmas Day I remembered back about 20 years when my mom began the table cloth "tradition".
Mom was watching Oprah and apparently Oprah had a segment on about signing the table cloth for Christmas. My mom put her finest damask tablecloth and proceeded to take a permanent marker and sign the table cloth.
WHAT!!!
After the initial shock wore off I remember thinking "how cool is my mom"!
Everyone who enters our home on Christmas day signs the table cloth in permanent marker.
After the few years (about 9) my mom then takes the cloth and uses it as a tree skirt. We then sign a new table cloth.
This cloth will make you laugh and will make you cry.
The family names all written in permanent ink. The generations all together on one cloth. The baby handprints and the toddler scribble, the high school grad and the newly engaged couple. The old and the young and those who are no longer with us. The simple table cloth that has brought us all together as a family. The signing in that we will pass on for generations to come. The simple Christmas day when my mom decided to take a bold step. The tradition that I cherish each Christmas Day.
After reflecting on the cloth I then began to think of some of the other things we do that are also part of our Christmas tradition.
ORNAMENT CAN ~ While we were growing up my mom would buy 3 of the same ornament. It could be a simple mini stocking or even a glitter ball. all three would go on our tree that particular year and then after that year, my had an ornament box for her, and two large cans, one for me and one for my brother. Mom would reuse her ornament year after year but ours were stored away. I never even knew she did this for us. My mom gave my my can the year I got married. Inside the can was a letter from Santa from when I was a kid and a construction paper stocking with spelling words from grade school plus ornaments that I remember being on my parents tree growing up. In this can too were a few ornaments from my parents first tree and an ornament that I made as a child. What a beautiful gift my mom gave me. I now put all of the ornaments that she saved on my own tree. I guess my love of tradition stems from my mom. When my wedding shower came along my husbands Aunt gave us a box filled with hand selected first ornaments. My cousin gave me a gorgeous brides first ornament. When we went on our honeymoon to Disney we picked up the pickle at Germany in Epcot. Now very where we go and every event in our lives, I buy an ornament. Every ornament on our tree has a significance, a meaning or is representative of someone. I even have a small duck on our tree that I bought when we were first married in anticipation of our first child. When we adopt our baby his or her name and adoption date will go on the duck.
A tradition I began when I was married is my husband and I host a small Christmas Eve gathering at our home for our parents. At our first gathering I started a Christmas Eve journal. It is a plain and simple journal but everyone has to sign it and give their greeting for the year. I then add very simple handwritten year in review and then file the journal away with all the Christmas stuff. Yes, the first few years my father in law thought it was lame and getting some people to write any more than 'hi' was like pulling teeth BUT now, everyone waits for it and are eager to sign away. Every few years I read the book and reflect on the past and tear up at the fact that we have come so far and are so blessed.
I hope you enjoyed reading about some of our traditions. My intention in sharing this post is to hope that if you have not already done so that you too will create some traditions. There is no good time to do it and you don't need a milestone to start. Start now and you will create a lifetime of precious memories.
Happy New year and I look forward to reading about your traditions next year.
The topic I chose for this blog post is
Creating Christmas Traditions
Up until this past year I never gave a thought to what we did as a family at Christmas.
The things we did to celebrate, were always just the things we always did.
Growing up our Christmas went like this :
Church, dinner, visiting, open one gift, sleep, stockings and Santa.
I realize now that we still do the SAME thing... and although some may think doing the same thing is boring and mundane, to me it is comfort and Christmas.
Even though I am now married for 10 years, we go to the same church service each year, we eat the same Christmas Eve dinner, we open one gift, go to sleep and open gifts from Santa, visit my parents and open our stockings and gifts and eat the same meal.
My mom still puts an orange in my stocking ~ yes, I still get a stocking, the same one from when I was a kid that was hand knitted by my neighbor.
The thing is the orange in the foot of the stocking did not start with my mom, it started with my grandma who put an orange in my moms stocking when my mom was just a little kid.
I never thought that what we did each year was tradition. I always thought that you needed some big life milestone to create a tradition.
As I was helping my mom put the table cloth on the dining room table on Christmas Day I remembered back about 20 years when my mom began the table cloth "tradition".
Mom was watching Oprah and apparently Oprah had a segment on about signing the table cloth for Christmas. My mom put her finest damask tablecloth and proceeded to take a permanent marker and sign the table cloth.
WHAT!!!
After the initial shock wore off I remember thinking "how cool is my mom"!
Everyone who enters our home on Christmas day signs the table cloth in permanent marker.
After the few years (about 9) my mom then takes the cloth and uses it as a tree skirt. We then sign a new table cloth.
This cloth will make you laugh and will make you cry.
The family names all written in permanent ink. The generations all together on one cloth. The baby handprints and the toddler scribble, the high school grad and the newly engaged couple. The old and the young and those who are no longer with us. The simple table cloth that has brought us all together as a family. The signing in that we will pass on for generations to come. The simple Christmas day when my mom decided to take a bold step. The tradition that I cherish each Christmas Day.
After reflecting on the cloth I then began to think of some of the other things we do that are also part of our Christmas tradition.
ORNAMENT CAN ~ While we were growing up my mom would buy 3 of the same ornament. It could be a simple mini stocking or even a glitter ball. all three would go on our tree that particular year and then after that year, my had an ornament box for her, and two large cans, one for me and one for my brother. Mom would reuse her ornament year after year but ours were stored away. I never even knew she did this for us. My mom gave my my can the year I got married. Inside the can was a letter from Santa from when I was a kid and a construction paper stocking with spelling words from grade school plus ornaments that I remember being on my parents tree growing up. In this can too were a few ornaments from my parents first tree and an ornament that I made as a child. What a beautiful gift my mom gave me. I now put all of the ornaments that she saved on my own tree. I guess my love of tradition stems from my mom. When my wedding shower came along my husbands Aunt gave us a box filled with hand selected first ornaments. My cousin gave me a gorgeous brides first ornament. When we went on our honeymoon to Disney we picked up the pickle at Germany in Epcot. Now very where we go and every event in our lives, I buy an ornament. Every ornament on our tree has a significance, a meaning or is representative of someone. I even have a small duck on our tree that I bought when we were first married in anticipation of our first child. When we adopt our baby his or her name and adoption date will go on the duck.
A tradition I began when I was married is my husband and I host a small Christmas Eve gathering at our home for our parents. At our first gathering I started a Christmas Eve journal. It is a plain and simple journal but everyone has to sign it and give their greeting for the year. I then add very simple handwritten year in review and then file the journal away with all the Christmas stuff. Yes, the first few years my father in law thought it was lame and getting some people to write any more than 'hi' was like pulling teeth BUT now, everyone waits for it and are eager to sign away. Every few years I read the book and reflect on the past and tear up at the fact that we have come so far and are so blessed.
I hope you enjoyed reading about some of our traditions. My intention in sharing this post is to hope that if you have not already done so that you too will create some traditions. There is no good time to do it and you don't need a milestone to start. Start now and you will create a lifetime of precious memories.
Happy New year and I look forward to reading about your traditions next year.
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Thank You!~ Patricia