Christmas Traditions

Although traditions are not as important to me as they were to my brother, I know that family traditions are important. As the years pass by specific memories become blurry. I can't recall all of the exact places that we went on family vacation when I was a child, but I know that I loved our family vacations (the ones with scads of driving were my least favorite). Traditions seem to create strong memories. When you do the same thing every year, it's easier to recall. I remember growing up we didn't decorate our house for Christmas until after my dad's birthday as my mom didn't want his birthday to get lost in the shuffle of Christmas. I've been the kind to usually decorate for Christmas the first weekend after Thanksgiving. The first several years of our marriage we got a live Christmas tree each year, but we switched to an artificial one about 11 years ago. In 2016 it was really, really hard for me to decorate for Christmas because I so strongly associated that with my mom. It's still a bit painful for me, but the kids' excitement helps me power through the grief that comes over me in those moments. They

LOVE the Christmas decorations. I do enjoy the lights on the tree, but n general my dislike of clutter makes me not a very big fan of decorations. I'm the one who gets excited to put them away a few days after Christmas. There are so many different kinds of Christmas traditions out there. Many people hide that little elf all over the house. We own one of those elves, but if he gets hidden it's because one of the kids hid him. I have never had an interest into that particular tradition. Some people put a LOT of time, energy, and creativity into that tradition! Many people buy matching Christmas pajamas for everyone in their family. I attempted this one time (minus Paul who I don't think will ever wear a pair of pajamas of any kind much less Christmas ones), but through pictures on Facebook and also seeing how many people were walking around Great Wolf Lodge wearing matching Christmas pajamas, I can see this is quite a wide spread tradition. The photographer in me would like to buy the kids matching pajamas, but the frugal side of me wins out in this instance. The

kids have no need for another pair of pajamas.

Here are some of our Christmas traditions... it's a list that is constantly evolving. I imagine we will have traditions five years from now that we don't have right now, but here's what we've been doing lately...

1. Decorating a tree and putting out other Christmas decorations including the stockings that Paul's Gram made for each of us. I put the presents under the tree as soon as we put the tree up. I asked the kids if they had the self-control to not peek. Oliver said he wasn't sure so his wrapped gifts are still up high on top of a bookshelf, but Nadia and Ian's gifts are under the tree. Paul sometimes puts lights outside our house, but some years we skip that. In light of our bathroom projects, I believe we'll be skipping the outdoor lights this year. Last year the kids also decorate Grandma and Pop Pop's pre-lit Christmas tree, and they are planning to do the same next Monday.

2. Going to Purity Candy on a Saturday in December for a free demonstration of the candy maker making candy canes, which concludes with each child being able to shape a candy cane to enjoy.

3. Going to the Museum of Glass and Rockwell Museum in Corning, NY the first Saturday of December which includes decorating Christmas cookies and making a piece of glass such as a hand blown ornament, fused glass, flamework, etc. The snowmen the kids made on December 7 arrived by UPS today. The kids are holding them in the pictures in today's post.

4. Going Christmas caroling with the AWANA club at the Warrior Run Manor on a Wednesday night in December.

5. Eating monkey bread for breakfast on Christmas morning. Oliver, Ian, and I enjoy this tradition!

6. Going to Paul's parents house on Christmas day for a gift exchange and a delicious meal mostly prepared by Aunt Millie.

7. Attending a Christmas Eve candlelight service at our church.

8. Exclusively listening to Christmas music from Thanksgiving through the end of December.

9. Doing our gift exchange with our children in the morning on Christmas Eve.

10. Typically I send out a Christmas card that contains pictures and text (or a card plus a letter), but this year in light of losing my brother and my job, I've decided to take an at least one year hiatus on that tradition.

11. Making cut out cookies that the kids decorate with sprinkles and such. Sometimes we make both gingerbread and sugar cookies, but at the very minimum we do a big batch of sugar cookies. To be honest this is my least favorite Christmas tradition, but I do it for the kids and also because we share some of those cookies with others.

12. Giving gifts to the kids' Sunday School teachers, AWANA leaders, and Soul Patrol directors. Usually we make plates of homemade cookies. Last year due to my exhaustion from working FT while juggling homeschooling, etc. I opted to give them gift cards instead. This year we are going back to homemade gifts. I am baking at least 9 loaves of pumpkin bread in addition to the sugar cookies we made earlier this week and letting the kids decide which they want to give to their leaders/teachers. The kids will given their AWANA leaders their cookies or bread this evening.

13. The kids shop for their immediate and extended family at AWANA. Tonight will be Nadia's last year with this tradition. Next year if she wants to give gifts she'll have to use real money not AWANA shares.

14. We usually visit the Santa that is beside our local grocery store. It doesn't cost anything. Nadia has outgrown this tradition. Some years we have attended a breakfast with Santa such as the free breakfast our local fire department hosts each December, but many times we have schedule conflicts and can't do any of the breakfasts. It didn't work out to do a breakfast this year.

15. Attend a Christmas musical at a large church in Camp Hill or the Christmas show at Sight and Sound. One of these years I want to take the kids to see the Christmas show at Radio City Music Hall, but it costs a small fortune to buy four tickets to that 90 minute show!

16. Bringing up a box of Christmas picture books that are kept in the basement most of the year but are up in our family room during the same time of year that we are listening to Christmas music. We also own a nice variety of Christmas DVDs that come up at that same time, but this year since we recently paid for a year of Disney +, the kids are not watching as many Christmas DVDs although they did watch the three Santa Clause movies on Disney + the week we paid for that service.

17. Getting together with extended family is usually a big part of Christmas. Some years we get together with some of Paul's mom's extended family at her sister's house in the Harrisburg area. The number of people who gather at Paul's parents' house has gotten smaller as Paul's three grandparents passed away and Brandi moved to Florida. Many years Yvonne's family was in Turkey over Christmas so it hasn't been as typical for us to spend Christmas with them, but we have usually spent Christmas with my parents, Wendy's family, and my brother. We used to celebrate with them in Maryland. Since my mom passed away we celebrated Christmas at our house twice (2016 and 2018) and in Maryland once (2017). My dad now lives in Lynchburg, Virginia. Paul can't travel at this time of year due to his preparations at work for a trade show that takes place in Baltimore in early January. We will probably see the Towfighis sometime next week in conjunction with when they come up to Pennsylvania to visit Joe's family, but we will have to wait until April to see Wendy's family again as, Lord willing, the kids and I are planning to go out to Chicago the week before Easter. Part of the reason we're not traveling is because I'm wanting more time to adjust to the new normal of celebrating Christmas with my side of the family without my brother. I know spending time with their cousins is VERY, VERY important to my kids. This made it a really hard decision to make. I know that Christmas break will definitely be more relaxing for me if it doesn't involve a round trip drive to Maryland or Virginia.

18. Making a gingerbread house. Lately we've been doing it at a public library, but that wasn't possible this year. I am planning to buy a kit a day or two after Christmas after they are on clearance.

19. Attending a Christmas party at the ice skating rink. The party includes free ice skating, free food, and Christmas gifts for the kids. How wonderful is that! We plan to be there this Saturday.

20. Attending two or three Friday night Christmas events at our church each December. This year two of those included my boys singing in the Soul Patrol choir. The other featured a variety of Christmas music including some by the Tran Siberian Orchestra. This year Nadia and Ian also sang in two Christmas candlelight services with the Susquehanna Valley Chorale for the first time; that might become an annual tradition. Last night Nadia sang in Meadowbrook Christian School's Christmas program for the first time; I have a feeling she will want to continue to sing in their chorus in the future.

Hopefully our kids will have positive memories in the future related to our Christmas traditions!

Oliver lost a tooth on Monday; it was the first one that came out without the aid of a dentist!