my side of the family carries on many traditions - one in fact, is my favorite and i absolutely loved as a kid. simple, but here it is: we would sit on top of the stairs on christmas morning. as a surprise to many, my brothers, sisters, and i were not the kids to run downstairs, peek, and wake everyone up at 5:00 A.M. to open presents. shocking, yes. but it probably was due to the fact that we would have gotten in serious trouble or a spanking or would be threatened that we wouldn't get any of our gifts. (gasp!) Or more than likely, the fact that we would be at our grandma's house until midnight on christmas eve so sleeping in wasn't even a question as little kids.
so yes, every christmas morning, we would get up around 9:00 A.M. and with the sound of the heater and christmas music coming from the basement - the four of us would wait patiently at the top of the stairs until our parents called us down to see what "santa" brought us that christmas.
this probably seems silly to you - but we talk about it all the time. no, we no longer do this ;) but it was such a fun moment. the anticipation, the wondering, the sleepy eyes, the smells and sounds of christmas, the giddy laughter -- this moment will always have a place in my heart and goes down as probably my favorite christmas tradition.
however, since then, i started my own little family. joseph and i. and it is fun to start new traditions. my new favorite tradition with my husband is cutting down our christmas tree. i grew up with a fake tree so when i married into a real tree family. well, the real tree won.
besides the million pine needles i have to so graciously and joyously sweep or vacuum up every day, the smells and experience far outweighs the needles.
this past weekend, joseph and i ventured about an hour and half northwest to a fun christmas tree farm in rockton, il. we got on a tractor ride and took us to find our perfect tree. after searching and searching, we stumbled upon the perfect spruce tree! (well, i think it is a spruce).
we got our handy, dandy hand saw and sawed that tree down. here are some pics:
joseph did most of the work, clearly. after we paid for it and got it in the truck we ventured back home and into the house - and now it stands loud and proud in our living room all lite up and decorated. great tradition and i can't wait to keep it going year after year (hopefully with children one day!)
so, what's your favorite christmas tradition? love to hear about it!
No comments:
Post a Comment