Our Christmas traditions begin on
Thanksgiving. After all the visitors leave, we watch "It's A
Wonderful Life." The weekend after Thanksgiving we get out
Christmas tree. We bundle up, and go out to Mexico NY to chop down
our own. We have our favorite Christmas tree farm that we started
going to a few years ago. After we get the Christmas tree, we put on
Christmas music and send my sisters to bed. Mom, Dad, and I decorate
the Christmas tree. We put on white lights and red ribbon first. The
red ribbon reminds us of the story of Jesus' birth, how it wove in
and our through prophecies in the Old Testament.
We then put on our
special ornaments like the ones we get for the year we were born.
Then we finish with icicles and snowflakes. Every year we get a new
snowflake to add to our collection. One year we had a homemade one.
We also put up our homemade stockings from my Aunt over the top of
the corner cupboard as my family exceeded the space on the fireplace.
The kids wake up the next morning and are so excited to see the tree
looking so pretty and special. During this time, I create and
make Christmas presents for my four sisters.
We go to Lights on the
Lake sometime early to mid-December.
We started the tradition of
putting on a Christmas performance for nursing homes with several of
my friends. I am the leader of the group. Some sing, some dance, and
some play an instrument. We have fun spreading Christmas cheer.
Towards Christmas we get out a plate of plastic cookies and a little
sign that says "Cookies for Noah". When one of my sisters
was little, she had just talked about Noah's Ark in Sunday School, so
when Santa was popping out all over the place, she thought he was
Noah.
On Christmas Eve, we get ready and
dressed in our pretty Christmas dresses and go to Church. The Church
has dimmed the lights and we each get a candle to hold. We sing
Christmas carols like Silent Night, Angels We Have Heard on High and
Joy to The World. Then my Pastor retells the Christmas story. We
finish by lighting our candles and singing. After we drive around
looking at Christmas lights. We always go by the tree Downtown. My
sisters love to see it's pretty lights twinkling. We head home and
each open one Christmas present. Then my sisters go to bed, and we
pull out all the Christmas presents out of hiding spots. We set up
the Little People Nativity while Dad starts chopping up fruit for
breakfast.
The next morning we can open our
stockings but no other presents till Mom gets up. Dad and I finish
getting food ready for our Special Christmas brunch. We have fruit,
like pomegranate, kiwi, starfruit, mango, and more. We also have
cheese like apple smoked Gouda, cheddar, Colby Jack. We bake brie in
a pastry and have a loaf of french bread. We snack on the leftovers
until we have dinner. After we finish breakfast we get to open our
presents. Then we get to play/use them. We like to invite my Great
Grandma over and we spend the evening together. My family has many
wonderful Christmas traditions, these are just a few. Christmas is
our favorite time of year.
What are your Traditions?
P.S. We are getting our Christmas tree next weekend!!!!
(Last year's tree!)
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