tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1445534393986100820.post6888205670638153395..comments2023-11-06T00:29:26.013-08:00Comments on A Note of Friendship: Christmas TraditionsJuliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08877038657361699565noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1445534393986100820.post-64431439101586019392009-12-19T16:22:26.966-08:002009-12-19T16:22:26.966-08:00Christmas is such a magical time of year. Every y...Christmas is such a magical time of year. Every year! I have so many fun things (traditions) that we do, I hate to have to pick just one. So I won't. As a child, my parents shared the Nativity story from each of the 4 gospels each Sunday until Christmas Eve when we went to church and heard the Luke version again. We lit purple candles, then one pink candle and we knew Christmas would be the next day. I continue this tradition, and added the narration of hearttouching (read wrenching) stories from our book of 25 stories that teach the deeper meaning of Christmas. We read from this book each night of December. The stockings are hung and we eat fudge, which used to be made by Grandma EVERY year. Now we have her recipes and continue that scruptious tradition. Photo sessions in front of the tree are mandatory (even for boyz that don't smile) and we sometimes bribe them. Gingerbread, crafting, and gift wrapping are all funfilled. But I truly think my boys favorite is the eggnog. We toast to begin the Christmas season, we toast to end the season, and we toast many days in between. Dad toasts with root beer, but hey, he comes up with the sweetest, funniest, most touching thoughts to toast so we give him an eggnog pass:-)<br /><br />I hope each of you have a beautiful Christmas and a great New Year!!!MamaLadyBughttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09894033667893450443noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1445534393986100820.post-52472139959718073952009-12-13T13:39:32.275-08:002009-12-13T13:39:32.275-08:00my favorite Christmas memory is when i lived in At...my favorite Christmas memory is when i lived in Atwater,CA. i was in the 3rd grade and i remember each year my grandparents from Penns. would send a package of goodies. i recieved the best present ever that year a pair of Hush Puppies shoes, something i had never heard of but loved them instantly. we usually got one pair of shoes a year so these were extra special. simple yet a lasting memorybarbara r-ghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04817209040644262192noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1445534393986100820.post-86416272756262663622009-12-13T05:39:50.130-08:002009-12-13T05:39:50.130-08:00One of our holiday traditions is to drive north an...One of our holiday traditions is to drive north and cut down our own Christmas tree every year. We usually go between the beginning of December and the 12th or so. As we drive up, we count the number of Christmas trees we see tied to the tops of other cars. The first years we went it was always over one hundred. Nowadays it's usually no more than 50 -- a sign of how things have changed since our kids were small. Somehow we've usually been lucky enough to have snow on the ground to make it feel Christmasy.<br /><br />We always try to find a very tall tree since our livingroom has a cathedral ceiling. One year we couldn't find a tall tree at our usual farm so we ventured to a new place and found an immense tree. It was fantastic! So we cut it down and lugged it to the car. But this place only had twine to tie the tree to the car and this tree was enormous! We tied the tree on, but it was draping over the sides of the car and generally showing off its girth. We were a bit nervous it would go flying off the car. We drove cautiously home, and on the way, everyone who passed us (we drove fairly slowly) would point at us, smiling, or honk their horns in approval. Some actually stuck their cell phones out the window to take a picture of the car with the enormous tree tied to its roof. We were laughing at the spectacle.<br /><br />We got home and dragged the tree inside, only to discover that the tree took up about half the livingroom, it was so wide! Yes, it was tall, but the width had been overlooked! All that season when the tree was up, visitors would come in the house and get a good chuckle as they commented on what a lovely -- and huge -- tree we'd gotten that year. <br /><br />From that year, we've since restrained ourselves in terms of the size of the tree. Now when we look at trees, we know that we'll never be able to find that super tall tree that is also skinny enough to fit comfortably in our livingroom. We settle for a decently tall tree, still taller than most get, but not so tall that its girth will cause problems. lol!Margarethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03646028248366805686noreply@blogger.com