HOLIDAY HOOPLA

I'm doing this for my sweet friend, Angie, cause I don't want her to play by herself!

12 RANDOM CHRISTMAS FACTS ABOUT ME

1. I have waaaay more Christmas decorations than I need or can even use. I love to decorate and set up little vignettes in every room.

2. I can not bear to rid myself of any Christmas decor that I have because of the memories attached to each piece. When I go on to Glory, some flea market will have a hay day because no one in my family will want all this junk...except maybe my friends Tina and Shirl.

3. I LOOOOVE Christmas music. I start playing before Thanksgiving. Every year I look for new music with a new twist on the familiar. I have shared some of these with you in previous posts. The music I have has become a "memory keeper" of sorts. When I put on my favorite CDs, I am transported to past years when I was listening to the same music and doing the same things. Tradition...continuity...
family time.....sweet memories.

4. Many years ago, we started having a platter of boiled shrimp for our Christmas Eve meal. Now it has become a tradition. Don brings them home from work and we put the huge platter in the middle of the table and it's every man for himself. And the women have to resort to sneaky methods to get a few!

5. I am the designated turkey cooker...and Don, the carver. (However he did start teaching Ian the intricacies of the task last year). No matter where we have our Christmas meal...the turkey is always my job.

6. We either have our family Christmas meal at Mom's or here. Depending on our health status. For the past few years we've been to Mom's and that is what feels the most right.

7. We made a decision early on that we were going to be flexible as to when we share together on Christmas Day. Adam and Suzanne need to spend time with her parents, and Tara and Will need to spend time with his parents. I would feel so sad not to be able to see them all on Christmas Day...so the best way to do that is not to be selfish. They figure it all out and tell us when will be best. Mom and Pop feel the same...so all is well. As we add more in-laws to the family, we'll continue this. It is such a blessing that we all live so close together like we do.

8. The thing that causes the men the most pain on Christmas is opening gifts. Now we ladies like to give them all out and go around from youngest to oldest and open each one in succession. This is the "proper" way so as to have the right amount of oohing and ahhing over each gift. The men and boys want to get it over with quicker, and move on to bigger and better things. Silly men! What could possibly be better than having a pile of gifts around your feet and all of them saying..TO: ME!!!!. Granny usually quiets them with a ,"Hush, now, it's once a year. Sit down and get comfortable." It has taken up to 2 hours ...but a glorious 2 hours! I LOVE selecting gifts for people. I try to put a lot of thought behind them, and it is a joyous thing for me to see when I get it right!

9. At our house, we started this tradition when the boys were still tiny. Before we open any gifts, we read the Christmas Story from Luke 2 and pray together. Through the years it has fallen to different boys to read and pray. How sweet to hear them stumble over the hard words and then in later years become so proficient in reading. And, through the years, they have never tried to open anything before our Bible time.

10. I have collected several nativity sets over the years. And I have some from around the world. But when Adam was little, I noticed how he wanted to play with them. I went and bought an inexpensive set, made of plastic, for him. And, he found a special piece of wood for them to stand on. This has gone under our tree every year since. It has lots of pieces and has been glued back together often. But, it a MUST for Christmas to feel right in our house.

11. I do not like egg nog. I do not like fruit cake. I do, however, LOVE Christmas cookies and candy. Except peppermint...I abhor peppermint.

12. As I said in an earlier post...I watch and wait for Christmas Spirit to come each year. It is always a surprise as to WHEN...but it ALWAYS comes....right on time.

MERRY CHRISTMAS....and I say that proudly!

I am not going to tag anyone specific, but this was fun to do. It actually made me stop and think about the things that make "Christmas" for this family. So, the invitation is open to all.