Christmas Traditions

I recently read a blog about a family's Chrsitmas Traditions. The blogger invited others to write about their own traditions, and link to her site (http://www.momrn2.blogspot.com/). It got me thinking. I wasn't sure if we really had any traditions as the girls are still pretty young, and when we moved, we left a lot of decorations behind. I thought that the girls wouldn't really remeber what we had done in previous years. I thought it didn't matter. Boy was I wrong!

We decorate the tree as a family. I always have. I even remember having certain music on for the tree decorating party. I have always had a live tree, at least until we moved here. The live trees are a little skimpy (think Charlie Brown and his tree), so we opted for a boxed tree. Our tradition starts with unpacking the tree and separating all of the pieces. The girls love to make piles all over the living room, then hand us the next required piece. As soon as the tree is together, I get to do the lights. Then the real fun begins - the ornaments. We take each one out and I try to tell the girls the story of each as they rush to get them on the tree. Each ornament is filled with memories for me, and I love to share the stories. After the rush is over, I do have a chance to talk to the girls about the ornaments, and the always ask lots of questions. This year, they even told me a few of the stories.

Shortly after we finish with the tree, out Nativity sets come out. I only brought 3 sets with me, two of which are very kid friendly. We have a beautiful cloth set that my mother found for the girls first Christmas. The other is the Fisher Price Little People set. We talk about all of the characters as we put them into place, and this year the girls are starting to understand the story. We listen to "Away in a Manger" a couple of hundred times as the girls LOVE to push the button on the top of the Little People stable. We talk about why Baby Jesus isn't in the manger with Mary and Joseph (which begs the question - should anybody be there before Christmas Eve? Gotta think about that timeline). And we spend the rest of the season moving the characters around the room (I found the cloth Mary in the Christmas tree over the weekend) and telling all kinds of stories about them.

My favorite tradition is one my grandmother brought into my life. We sing Happy Birthday to Baby Jesus, and the youngest in the crowd blows out the candle on the cake. When I was a child, my grandmother had a beautiful brass angel who held the candle. Unfortuantely she had to be retired many years ago, but my sister found a wonderful replacement. She is not brass, she holds a bigger candle, and she might be heavy enough to crush the cake, but I love her and all that she represents. She helps us keep the tradition just the way that Grandma did. I never considered my grandmother a particularly religious person, but she made a point of us focusing on Jesus on Christmas Day. It is a tradition that my husband specifically requested that we continue with our own family.