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Sunday, December 13, 2015

Starting Your Own Christmas Traditions

A little tale to inspire you.

When my children were wee little munchkins~
you know that age when blankets get dragged around,
and teddy bears are still being slept with,
and yes, they were much shorter than me,
that's when it started.
It might even have been a school night.
It's difficult to remember.
I do remember they wanted to watch a Christmas movie
and had half their bedding hanging around the living room.
Of course, this time of year it gets dark about 4 o:clock.
We had eaten dinner already so
I said, "Why don't we just have a slumber party?"
We (even me) made up a giant "bed" on the floor.
I made some tea or cocoa and popped corn.
We turned the lights down and proceeded to watch our movie. 
By the time the movie was over,
they were nearly asleep.
There was no fussing about bed time.

And we did so the following year,
and the year after that, and the year after that.
You get the idea.
It's silly really, but I miss having my 'little' kids here
to do such a silly thing as watch
a movie that we've seen multiple times
and sleep on a hard floor with someones foot in my ribs.

The kids of course remember,
after all, it was just yesterday right?
Perhaps someday, they will continue it with their own children.
(Not too soon - they're not quite thaaat old.)

Another thing that started before my son was even born
was the pickle on the tree.
The story is that long ago when there was little or nothing to spare
for gifts,
a father said he was going to hang a pickle on the tree.
There was but one gift, and
the finder of the pickle got the gift.
I loved this.
I would hang our pickle ornament on the tree.
Christmas morning they would come down the stairs excitedly
and begin looking.
They seemed more excited about the pickle prize
than their actual gifts.
The pickle prize was usually something small that required a second person.
Actually, I think one year it was pick up sticks - like I've shown.
So, they still both got to play/share.

We will go get our tree today.
I've had so many people say, "You don't have a tree yet?"
No we don't.
This is actually a little early for us to get a tree.
We usually get it about a week before Christmas.
There are little 'steps' we enjoy throughout the season.
Christmas doesn't revolve around the tree or decorations for us.
It's making each of those little steps special
as we look forward to that special day
and carrying that in our hearts even after the tree is out the door.

If you have endearing traditions, I'd love for you to share
a comment so we can all enjoy.

Merry Christmas
Until next time,
Nimble Fingers and Even Stitches






6 comments:

  1. Nice traditions. My husband (a police officer) used to always work on Christmas Day so others could enjoy the day with their children (we have no kids). Our tradition was to eat pizza and drive around looking at Christmas lights on Christmas Eve. A few years ago I stopped for our traditional Christmas Eve pizza. The young girl said, "Thank goodness. They told me I couldn't close down until you came." I had never realized the owner of the pizza place was so aware of our tradition.

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    Replies
    1. I love it! And thank you to both of you for having your husband work. It's rather sad that police might be needed at all on Christmas. Also, nice they know you need your Christmas pizza:)

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  2. what lovely traditions you had. Can just picture the slumber party and loving the pickle story. I do not bother with a tree these days but have my nativity scene and a hardanger engel I made. Christmas Eve we will celebrate as Helen the nurse has volunteered to work on 25 as she lives on her own with no children, she will go and collect Catherine and Sal in the morning and take them home after the meal so when everyone is busy on 25th I can just relax, no doubt stitching as usual

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  3. I love the pickle search! Fun. I hang a little ornament that is hand made out of yarn and that plastic mesh, shaped like a pointy face. When you squeeze it, the mouth open and inside is a Hershey's kiss. My granddaughter looks for that every year!

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  4. You have the best ideas about Christmas. No wonder I love coming here to visit you when you post :)

    My daughter's very favorite thing is decorating the Christmas sugar cookies. She's become a regular Martha Stewart. I never realized how much that simple thing meant to her until I was sick one year and I wasn't able to do it. She loves it above everything else, even the presents and she's 20 years old :)

    Have a beautiful, wondrous Christmas, my friend.

    (((hugs)))
    rue

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  5. A slumber party sounds like such a wonderful tradition! I'm almost tempted, my kids would love it, but I really love my bed. :) My daughter and I have been painting my nativity set for the past several years. We paint a little bit each year, and this year is the first that I've let her paint quite a bit. We are getting close to being done, but at the rate we go it'll still be a couple more years. I keep wondering what we will do when we finish. Maybe buy a new set and start painting it for her. Anyway, I love family traditions, thanks for sharing yours and for sharing on the Homestead Blog Hop!

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