At the top of my home page is a tab called ,"The Twelve days of Christmas", which is a question and answer challenge I did last year with Cait, over at The Blessed Life . We are very traditional like many family's during the holidays.
When I was growing up, we didn't have Christmas traditions. When I married and had children we started some that have carried over in our home for thirty-seven years now….
First off, we NEVER open gifts on Christmas Eve. I always liked getting up early in the morning with the kids and see their eyes light up with the excitement of seeing what Santa had left under the tree. We kept this tradition even after the kids left home. We still open our gifts only after everyone has arrived Christmas morning.
Our second tradition is our tree decorations. My husband and I are western people and I have collected and added western ornaments every year, so our collection has grown a lot. I also collect Western Santa's. I hope one day, perhaps our grandchild might be going through the boxes of ornaments she might come across in the attic one day when were long gone, and remember those western ornaments she helped hang on the tree each year. Each one special, each one with a memory or a story that she may carry in her heart.
My last tradition is my favorite one. Stockings, I love them! Everyone in our family has a stocking with their name and western brands. I made these years ago and even premade enough to have when son-in-laws and grandchildren would come into our family picture one day. And as they did, I would get one out and add a name. Stockings are fun. Great small things can fit into them, one surprise after another. Stockings are dumped out and gone thru way before gifts are even opened. Seeing everyone go thru the goodies like a treasure chest is so exciting to watch.
Well, I better get busy...make my list, check it twice...two more stockings for my sis, paper, ribbon, tape...Three more months until Christmas....where did the days go?