It's Friday, I'm in Love

My friend Heidi recently posted about traditions (and how they have started the tradition of doing one night a month as a 'theme' night -- SO cool) and it got me thinking about the Christmas traditions that I love. Perfect topic for a Friday Five. (I chose Christmas traditions because it is easily the time with the most traditions, but I like that Heidi is creating traditions for the whole year!) Here's the list:

1. Yankee Swap on Christmas Eve. Every Christmas Eve, after we read Luke 2, my mom brings out the Yankee Swap gifts, puts them in the middle of the livingroom, and another part of Christmas Eve fun begins. Yankee Swap is basically played like White Elephant -- you pick a number for your turn and you can steal or open a new gift. The big difference between the two is that my mom buys good stuff (small, but good) and we aren't polite to each other because we are family. That sounds like we act like greedy kids, but we don't because the gifts aren't the important part of this tradition. It is having fun and laughing together that's important. I do want to add that for years the most fought over gift was a pack of New York Seltzer, and then later Clearly Canadian.



2. Santa's Bells. Christmas Eve we knew it was time for bed when we heard Santa's bells. The story goes that Santa gives his bells a warning jingle and when you hear them you had to be in bed right away or Santa would skip your house. When I was young I seriously argued that Santa had to be real because who else would ring the bells? Little did I know that my dad dangled them out the upstairs window... Anyway, Christmas my first year of college my parents brought out the bells to show us. I had never seen them before and I seriously lost a bit of my innocence even after all those years.



3. Christmas morning breakfast. So, growing up my parents made us get dressed and ready for the day BEFORE opening gifts on Christmas morning. That was torture when we were little, but as we grew up we even started eating breakfast before making our way to the tree. I don't know if my siblings agree that this is a family tradition, but it is something I looked forward to every year. See, the rest of the year we just didn't make time to sit down together for breakfast (dinner yes, breakfast no). That made Christmas morning special -- another time to enjoy being together, and, you know, eat bacon. (Beggar's Stew this year! Mmmmm...)



4. Giving to the Salvation Army. Growing up my parents would always slip us a few coins before leaving a store to give to the Salvation Army bell ringer. I'm sure a lot of parents do/did this, but my parents also reminded us of our Grandfather and how the Salvation Army had served him after the war. After being released he was stuck in California for a few weeks waiting to get paid. He had no place to stay and no money for food while he waited, but the Salvation Army was there to help. They gave him a cot to sleep on and a half a cheese sandwich a day. I think of that story everytime I see the red shield and I dig in my purse to find what I have to give.



5. Learning about my husband's own family Christmas traditions and combining them with mine. I've loved hearing about what made Christmas special for him, like opening and playing with family gifts on Christmas Eve, driving around to look at wildlife and the lights, and having a super nice Christmas Eve dinner with his family. His family opens gifts early Christmas morning and then plays games the rest of the day -- you know me and games. I love that! Mostly his favorite traditions are just like my family's in that the point is to spend time together.
   

Darren and I are still coming up with our own traditions. Give us time -- we've only been married 6 years and we don't have kids yet! But that being said, I'd love to hear about your favorite traditions, you know, for ideas. I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas. Keep smiling and remember to be happy.