Red Writing's TWOC - # 2 Christmas Memories and Traditions

I absolutely love Christmas! I have fantastic memories of Christmas' past, as well as the traditions we uphold every year.

It has always been a tradition in our family that the presents are opened on Christmas morning. Not Christmas Eve, Christmas morning. One of my favorite memories from Christmas morning is the year I saw the reindeer tracks in the snow in the front yard. I was really young but I still remember this. My dad told me that Santa's reindeer had left tracks out front and he took me to see them. It was awesome. Now of course the reindeer tracks were not real. My dad had created them. But of course I didn't know that until years later. I love that memory.

We traditionally spend Christmas day at my grandparent's house. We open presents, have breakfast, get ready, and head there for lunch. Lunch has been and is always perfect, thanks to Grandma & Mom. When we were younger Court & I couldn't wait for lunch to be over, the dishes to be done, and for presents to be opened. We were beside ourselves until it was present time.

Keelie & I have always exchanged Christmas presents, as long as I can remember. I have many memories of this. For one, Keelie used to not be the best secret keeper and would sometimes tell me what she was giving me. lol. I loved when we would get together to open gifts and we would give each other the same exact thing. It cracked me up to find out in later years that our moms would discuss the presents and decide for us to give each other the same gift so we wouldn't want what the other had. Smart moms.

One year Courtney & I made a nativity to help decorate the living room. We used stuffed sheep, Cabbage Patches, dolls, and other various items to construct this. It was awesome! Our parents loved it. We still talk about it.

When I was in elementary school our Sunday school class made a nativity scene out of felt, glitter, glue, ribbon, and a dowel rod. It looks pretty funny since I was really young when I made it. I love that 20+ years later my mom still hangs it up every year as part of our decorations.

I am very particular about the way my Christmas tree is decorated. It's not that it has to be done any certain way, except that it has to be done my way. I've always been this way. I used to decorate the tree at mom & dad's and not let mom & Court help me. They didn't do it right. LOL! The ugly ornaments, like those given to us by my dad's Aunt Ann, always got hung in the back. I hung the stuffed ornaments that my mom made in the back as well, as they looked out-dated to me. I felt pretty bad the year mom realized what I was doing. She couldn't believe it. Haha. The ornaments from my parent's tree are awesome. They are a collection of ornaments throughout the years. Some of them were made in grade school my Court & me, others were given to my mom by students, still others contain pictures of us throughout the years. These ornaments were so special and mom still won't let me have them for my tree! :)

Okay, I'll stop. I could go on and on and on. I love Christmas and the traditions that are kept and the new memories that are made every year. Merry Christmas!