Holiday Traditions

Every family has their Holiday traditions and just because we are in an apartment this Christmas I am determined to keep the few traditions I can this year.

The tradition of the kids waiting at the top of the stairs on Christmas morning is long past. Although it was a tradition passed down from my childhood I am not sure that it will make  it to the next generation. After all it does require stairs and a two story home, of which my children have none.

We started a new tradition two years ago where we do a gift exchange with our immediate family. This gift exchange has a theme each year. The first year the theme was "As Seen on TV" so we had to buy our person a gift that was labeled "As seen on TV". That year was great for my husband and I because we actually had an "As seen on TV" store in the shopping mall in Virginia. The second year was a funny T-shirt gift, and this year is fun slippers. I cannot wait to see how creative everyone is this year.

Another tradition we have is the making of sugar cutout cookies. I make the cookies, and the whole family ices and decorates them. We have been decorating cookies at Christmas for almost 30 years. It is one of my favorite traditions because, as with any tradition, I get to spend time with everyone. I look forward to sharing this tradition with my Grandchildren.

The next tradition I do for me. I have watched the movie "Scrooge" on Christmas Eve and "It's A Wonderful Life" on Christmas Day for as long as I can remember. I know it has to have been at least 30 years, because we use to have an old VHS tape of "Scrooge" and it was recorded in California. We lived in California in the early 80's. It is fun for me to watch the movies with my grown kids, because they know all the words and songs, and they make me laugh when they recite all the familiar phrases with their own accent and spin.

I am sure there will be a time when my kids will tire (some may have already) of making cookies and watching these old movies, but I hope that as they get older and start their own traditions they realize how important these silly little traditions are to me. They are a reminder of  Christmases past. A time when they were little and loved to ice snowman cookies purple by mixing all the colors of icing together. They would make blue Christmas trees and dump a handful of sprinkles on it making it by far the ugliest and most delicious Christmas tree cookie ever, lol. These cookies were never shared outside the family, but were eaten by their creators and makers of memories.

After all isn't that what traditions are all about, the process of making family memories?

 I wish you all Happy Holidays and in the words of Tiny Tim, "God Bless us Everyone"!