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Name Your Tradition
As Thanksgiving came and went, I found myself thinking back on some of my favorite holiday traditions. You know, the ones that you revisit in your mind each and every year if for no other reason than the comfort and joy they bring.
For me, on Thanksgiving, it’s bundling up to watch the Macy’s Day Parade as a little girl with my siblings and cousins in tow. Then later, when I was a parent, I took my own daughters to see the St. Louis version.
When the Christmas season arrives, the traditions that make me smile from my childhood were the ones made on Christmas night with my grandparents and aunts/uncles. I can remember their tall skinny tree that nearly touched the ceiling of their apartment…and the little Christmas village that adorned the mantel of their fake fireplace. And, if I’m really lucky, I can still hear the sound of my grandma’s voice or my grandfather’s soft laugh. It was magical, pure and simple.
As an adult, the Christmas traditions I started with my children have become just as precious…
*Taking my girls to a pottery store to hand paint their own Christmas dish (& then coming across their previous year’s dishes while getting out the decorations). I’m a complete sucker for this kind of stuff.
*Driving around in slippers and blankets, checking out the best light displays. Then coming home for hot cocoa and treats.
*Making homemade fudge.
*Selecting a special keepsake ornament for each child—something that makes me think of where they “are” (like an interest or fad) in that particular year—and then presenting it to them on Christmas Eve morning.
*Making and decorating cookies for Santa.
*Putting baby Jesus in the manger on Christmas Eve and singing “Happy Birthday.”
*Finding something Santa left behind (a piece of his ripped coat in the fireplace doors…a dropped present outside…footprints on the hearth…) when we wake up on Christmas morning.
I love this time of year. I always have, I always will. So how about you? What are some of your favorite holiday traditions?
Hugs,
~Laura
