Am I the only person who can't believe it's already December???
Every time I listen to Christmas music, I tear up. I blame it on hormones, though I think that missing my family has something to do with it. This year has been so crazy, and it's so hard being away from everything I ever knew! I can't tell you how much I look forward to phone calls with my mom...and visits from my husband. Is it absolutely ridiculous that my husband and I live in different states? I think it is.
Last night I was thinking about my memories from past holidays. A lot of them revolve around family traditions. Tyler and I haven't really established any traditions for our family...we hardly spend the holidays together anyway! But we will...eventually....hopefully...
Some of my favorite Christmas memories include:
*Breakfast with the grandparents before opening our presents.
*singing Christmas songs every single hour of every single day leading up to Christmas.
Sometimes we'd dance to the Nutcracker in the kitchen while making Sunday dinner. And Leisl and I would ALWAYS sing the duet our music teacher taught us. A medley of "It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas" and "Pine Cones and Holly Berries." Ask us to sing it sometime. We rock. Oh, and on Christmas Eve my family reads the Christmas story in the bible and then sing more Christmas songs. Love it.
*Visiting Temple Square, seeing the lights and watching the nativity scene. And always, always visiting the Christus statue.
*Christmas countdowns. My mom makes an amazing countdown to Christmas every year, complete with various Christmas foods, activities, and traditions from around the world. Plus making and opening our Christmas crackers! Candy would fly everywhere. :)
*Driving around town to look at Christmas lights. Plus there is the Festival of Lights that Spanish Fork puts on...and the Light Parade! Oh the joy of pretty sparkly lights.
*Movie madness.
My family has about 5 movies that we HAVE to watch in order for Christmas to be complete: Arthur's Perfect Christmas, It's a Wonderful Life, A Charlie Brown Christmas, White Christmas (Okay, that's just Leisl and me....), and Santa Clause is Coming to Town. Plus I'm a personal fan of Mr. Kruegar's Christmas and Nora's Christmas Gift.
*decorating the house and the tree with my siblings.
We each took a year being in charge of what decorations would go on the tree...since we had way too many decorations to put them all on every year!
But through all these fun activities, sparkly decorations, and delicious foods....my family always tried to remember what Christmas is really about. Christ. His life, His love, and His amazing gift to the world. That is one tradition that will definitely be passed on to my children. The only gift that really matters, is the gift of our Savior.
2 comments:
That's a fun idea to have one child get to choose which ornaments. I had a hard time our first Christmas out here, too. I loved reading about your past traditions. {I agree that it's ridiculous for you & your husband to live in different states. ;) Hope you can get past this crazy stage of separation quickly! But just think the stories you'll be able to share with your children... and how much you'll appreciate future holidays spent completely together. =)}
Traditions are the best part about Christmas! Don't worry, you'll find ones for you and Tyler to do together...they will come. We've only been married three years and we have TOO MANY! Just remember that it's about you guys now, not your families. Sometimes it's hard to mash them together, but then again, sometimes easier not to try! :)
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