Christmas Traditions

Lisanne (blog now removed) recently wrote a beautiful post about Christmas traditions. It’s great having wonderful family traditions to look back on. Christmas was always my Grandfather’s favorite time of year. Each year as we decorate the house with all of our decorations, tears roll down my face as I think about Granddad and how he would get into the Christmas spirit. He had such a generous heart and he loved to buy for others. It didn’t matter what he got, because he got such a thrill when Grandmother and I were excited about our gifts. Some family traditions that we used to do were:

-Opening 1 gift on Christmas eve: I used to get really happy about opening that 1 gift. Usually it was a pretty good gift. In fact one year, I remember getting this Barbie that I really wanted. I was never really that into Barbies, but for some reason this one year I would have died if I didn’t get it and that was the gift I got on Christmas eve!

-Having family over during the Christmas Season: Since I lived with my Grandparents, many times we had family over to our house. This was always exciting because we would give family gifts and I enjoyed seeing each family open them.

-Going to the Christmas Eve Candle Light Service at our church: We lived across the street from our church, so we always walked across the street. We had to bundle up because it was pretty cold. We’d run across the street and enter the candlelit room, It was always so dimly lit and toasty inside. I’ll never forget the choir director, who was also my piano teacher, who sang “Oh Holy Night” each year. Her rendition of that always sent chills up my spine! She has such a beautiful voice.

-Putting the Christmas Tree up on December 9th: December 9th is my uncle’s birthday and when he, my dad, and his other 2 brothers were growing up, they would put the Christmas tree up on that day. They would celebrate and then they’d put up the tree, so we continued that tradition when I was growing up there.

-Cooking: I enjoy cooking around the holidays. A favorite that my Grandfather and I used to make together was sausage balls. We used to spend 1 afternoon making several pounds of them. We could put them in freezer bags so we could cook them later. We used to also make cookies, parmesan bread sticks, and chili around the holidays.

-Crafts: Each year my Grandmother and I would make Pomanders (oranges with cloves and cinnamon) to make the house fragrant. Little did I know that that was something that they did in the Colonial Days until I started teaching 5th grade~ LOL! We also made ornaments. I remember one year I painted little wooden ornaments, which was so much fun. In fact, I still have those.

So those our the main Christmas traditions that I had growing up. What are some traditions you had that are memorable for you?