As I started writing this post, I got to thinking about Christmas Traditions. Why do we do the same things year after year after year? Why do certain things mean so much to us?
I remember as a kid how much I loved helping to decorate the house for Christmas. It was my mom's favorite holiday and she went ALL OUT! I mean boxes and boxes of decorations, snow villages, ornaments, etc. When we got a bit older, we used to put together a different Christmas Display made from plywood and painted. It would take weeks to create it with my mom putting hours and hours of time into it. One year we won for the local paper and got a $100 prize! We used to go looking at Christmas Lights- our favorites being the Rix brothers- one house on Brill Street and his brother off I-17 & Greenway. We would get together with the big extended family at Aunt Jane's house on Christmas Eve, and then have everyone over for a big dinner on Christmas Day at our house. I used to always know what was going to happen and look forward to it! These traditions made Christmas such a special time for me.
I think as a child there is a lot of comfort in consistency. I think doing the same things every holiday makes those holidays special and helps a child to feel loved and know that this time we spend together as a family is very important and precious.
As I have gotten older, at times it has been hard to break away from some of my old traditions and to make new ones with my own family. Sometimes I feel sad that things change and evolve, and other times it is a relief to not have to spread myself so thin trying to keep all the traditions alive. But one thing that will never change is how much I love the Christmas Season and can hardly wait for it to start every year!
It is our tradition to decorate the house for Christmas over Thanksgiving Weekend. Things went a little slower since we had Kinley and Madison staying with us. I forget how busy little ones can be! We did manage to get the house ready and get into the Christmas spirit!
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Another tradition we have is that I always host the December Christmas Party for my Bunco group. These ladies are so fun to hang out with! We love meeting every month and talking and playing. Our group is going on 11 years! Here is a picture of us at our party.
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We have other traditions as well. Going to look at Christmas lights, the Sterne family Christmas Picnic, Holiday Parties at school and with cub scouts, Christmas Eve church service with my mom at Palmcroft, and Christmas Eve and Day gatherings with both sides of our family.
These traditions bind us together as a family, as friends, and as a whole. We remember Christ's birth and celebrate the season with love because of how much God loved us.
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