Christmas Traditions

Y’all know how much I love lists, but there is one thing for which I don’t need a list: our Christmas morning traditions. It’s been pretty much the same since I was a kid. My own kids have taken over waking up their parents way too early.

Christmas stockings are placed by the side of the beds before Santa (aka Mom) goes to bed on Christmas Eve. When I was a kid, we were allowed to open our stockings whenever we woke up–even if it was 3 a.m.! Our kids usually wait until 7 or so and bounce on our bed with their stockings. We groggily open them together, then read/recite the Christmas story from Luke 2. The recitation usually comes from the KJV because that’s the way I memorized it years ago.

After reliving the REAL reason for the season, we troop (or race, depending on the age!) to the tree. Instead of a free for all, the dad (my hubby or my dad, if we’re together) hand out presents a few at a time. That way we can enjoy the opening process and see what each other received. That’s also a good way to stretch out the presents.

As we open our gifts, I make a list of who received what from whom so proper thank you notes can be written. We also munch on the Chex mix and other goodies that were in our stockings. That’s usually our breakfast (hey, it’s just cereal minus the milk!).

Then we laze around and I work on a nice dinner. We usually call the family members who aren’t with us and try to Skype my brother and his family, who live overseas.

Q4U: What are your favorite Christmas traditions?

P.S. – Happy Birthday to me!! 🙂 Nope, I’m not telling you how old I am, but I will tell you that one of my birthday traditions has been insisting that my birthday be separate from Christmas and that my presents be wrapped in real birthday paper instead of Christmas paper.