This year (especially - and I don't know why) I am really thinking a lot about traditions.
Just at lunch today I was sharing a very fond memory of when we were little I remember making sugar cookies with my sister and my dad. We made tons (it seemed like). The hours spent just rolling dough and over flouring our kitchen table. Using all of the cookie cutters (mostly metal - back then). Then the fun and the mess we would make as we iced each cookie. I think by the time we were done - we were all way ready to be done. Cleaning up our mess didn't even seem like a chore because of the fun that we had had.
Another one of our traditions was decorating for Christmas. It would take a whole evening - After school my sister, dad, and I would meet in the back yard and go through the shed to pull out all of the Christmas stuff. The stand for the tree was this huge wood thing. (My dad had built it and attached train tracks to run around the tree). It was so heavy. Then there was the tree. It seems so massive but actually only about 6 or 6 1/2 feet tall. That tree was so full. Then the boxes of nic nacs and ornaments and candy dishes and wreaths and candle holders. There was so much. My mom would fix an easy dinner. We either ate while we decorated or sometimes before. My dad and I would do the tree setup and the lights. Oh the lights. My mom like a lot of lights on her trees. We would go all the way around and up the middel of the tree then. That followed by all the way down looping lights around EVERY branch. And then to top it off we would WRAP lights back up around each and every 3 braches off of the main branches. Needless to say that took the most time but there definately were lights when we were done.
There were a few ornaments that went on the tree first and some of them had to be hung by certain people. My dad always put his black bird in the tree (I don't know if it was a crow or blackbird). And I had my 1979 angel and my sister had her bell with her picture (I think it was a bell). Anyways, those went first. Then hours were spent with my mom on the floor making sure each ornament had a hook as my sister and I put each ornament on the tree. Of course my mom looked for bare spots (I don't know how she saw them with all of the lights - ha ha) and would direct us if something needed to be moved.
The candy dishes were filled with Hershey miniatures and red and green M&M's. Then followed the nic-nacs and all of the candles.
We had the cutest little Christmas mice, Christmas bears, and of course the nativity scene. The whole while these things were being set up we listened and sang to our Christmas cd's.
I am very blessed by these memories. As a grown - up I am glad to realize that some of these traditions I carry on but more importantly how special and warm these memories are to me.
I have to run to work but I want to share with you some of the traditions that I am embracing now so I will blog more soon.
