Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
I absolutely love this time of the year. Each year as it gets closer, I can feel the holidays in my bones. I know that sounds crazy but I am one of those people. I am also a January baby so that may add to it.
Growing up, we have done nearly the same thing every year for Christmas, though it his starting to change over the years.
When I was little on every Christmas Eve, we would gather for a dinner buffet at my parent’s house that included a honey-baked ham and lots of appetizers (it would vary every year but the ham remained the same). After everyone ate, we would cover all the dishes and run off to church for the candle-light service; usually either my dad, my sister, or I were involved somehow. After church we would come back to the house and open presents. Now there are not many of us, but all the “adults” would draw names the Christmas before instead of buying for each family member. Sometimes, this night would last until 1am. Then Christmas Day, we moved it to my grandparents house for stockings, brunch, and then dinner that evening.
Stockings in my family are something else. Every member of the family is “Santa”, we are all responsible for stocking stuffers for each person. But these are not normal sized stockings, they are huge! By great-grandma knitted them and the tradition has continued on. So much that I am searching for someone to recreate one for my fiancé for our first Christmas as a married couple next year.
Brunch was another traditional meal where we would have a dish deemed “orange rolls” every year. It is not Christmas without them. They are melt in your mouth good but not “SIBO-friendly”. However, I might just share the recipe for the heck of it. Christmas dinner was pretty normal with it being a turkey dinner (same as Thanksgiving).
As the years have gone by, the tradition has continued with some changes on location throughout the years depending on what was going on in the family. And now some changes as we are trying to split the time between my fiancé’s family and my family but that is a learning curve.
Another interesting tradition in my family is the tree. Now, I am a member of a very artistic family filled with architects, so our tree takes after that nature. We grew up with a Christmas “branch”. Everyone in my family has one similar, varying in size.
My parents Christmas tree
For the last six years that I have been on my own, I have started to create my own traditions. I really like traditional green trees, preferably the real kind. But living in an apartment, it has been easier to have a smaller, fake tree. At first, it was a “pencil tree” but has since evolved to a much larger, fuller tree.
My own Christmas tree
My first year doing a tree on my own, my dad took me shopping and then dropped me off at my apartment and said “see ya later”. I was living on my own, so I put a Christmas movie on and got to work. I selected red and gold as my colors and have not changed since. That first year, I also did not have a star or angel to put back on top, and was too tired to go back to the store. I found I had a Santa hat laying around the apartment from work and placed that on top. I have done that every year since, my own little tradition.
Christmas is my all time favorite, but I know as the years go by and as we begin to start a family, things will be changing and I am okay with that and am excited for new traditions! Once kids are around, that will make it even more special but we are a couple years away from that!
What are some of your favorite holiday traditions?
Happy Holidays from me and my family to you and yours!