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| A Lifetime of Family Traditions |
~“Without tradition, art is a flock of sheep without a shepherd. Without innovation, it is a corpse.” Winston Churchill~
My two favorite holidays is Thanksgiving and Christmas, and they are both just around the corner. I love these two holidays because of what they represent, unity, peace, love, family bonds, Jesus, birthdays, traditions, and memories.
I am a stay at home wife, and mom of three grown boys. I myself have no siblings, my father passed away in 2001, but I still have my mother, both in-laws whom I adore, and 2 sister-in-laws, and 2 brother-in-laws, 3 nieces, and 3 nephews.
Thanksgiving Tradition~
The week before Thanksgiving I climb into our attic and retrieve my decorations for Thanksgiving as I put away my Halloween decorations. I then spend the day decorating my entire house, every room, including the bathroom with pumpkins, fall leaves, turkey, wreaths, and other Thanksgiving decorations.
The day before Thanksgiving I get the Turkey out to thaw, and I go ahead and prepare as much of the meal as I can on this day, such as the Homemade Chocolate Cream Pie, Homemade Coconut Cream Pie, Homemade Cheesecake, Homemade Pecan Pies, and a BIG batch of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cookies for the family to snack on while Thanksgiving dinner is being cooked. Once my Turkey has completed thawing I then baste it with butter, and my own special seasons, and then I cover it and let it set in the refrigerator all night long absorbing all the spices and butter.
On Thanksgiving morning I rise early in the morning and begin peeling a 5lb bag of red potatoes to make mashed potatoes, I re-baste the Turkey and place it in the pre-baked oven; I set my green bean casserole out to also be put into the oven when that time comes. I get out 3 cookie sheets to put my homemade yeast rolls onto them and then I cover them and set them onto my wood stove. I live in the Ozark Mountains and by Thanksgiving it is cold enough to have a wood fire going. I also make fresh cranberry sauce, stuffing, and right before the meal has finished cooking I put on a pot of water to boil to make Velveeta Shells and Cheese, because I have what you call a picky eater among my boys.
Now while I am doing this, my family is in the living room watching the Parade on the big screen TV, snacking on my cookies. If my boys brought home girlfriends, then they will either be watching the parade with my boys and husband, or they are in the kitchen with me watching the Parade on my flat screen TV that hangs on the wall, and having girl chat. Now you did not think that I would miss out on all the fun of the Parade did you?? I made my husband put a TV into our kitchen years ago.
As each item of food is ready to serve I display each item beautifully onto our dinning room table that seats 12 people. We all wash up and take our places at the table, my husband at one end and I at the other. My husband then starts saying grace and it is passed on around the table each one of us saying what we are thankful for and my entire family always makes sure to add to their grace thanking me for preparing such a beautiful feast and for all the trouble I go through for them. My family always tells me they know I love them, because I have always made a safe home filled with love for them.
After grace my husband carves the Turkey as this is another one of our Family Traditions. Then we all dig in and eat until we fill as if we are going to pop if we take one more bite. We then retire to the living room to chat, and play games. We love to play the game “Scene It”, by the end of the game we are all laughing so hard we have tears streaming down our faces. We also have worked up another appetite, so I put on a pot of coffee and once that is done brewing we all dig into the desserts, drink our coffee and just chat.
Once dessert is done, my boys bring down the Christmas tree, and we all as a family decorate the tree as we all reminisce about our favorite memories. Once the tree has been decorated with handmade ornaments from my children throughout the years, with family ornaments that have been handed down through 6 generations, and even new ornaments, and lights we all then head outside before darkness falls to decorate our lawn with Santa and his Reindeer, a Manager, Snowmen, Elves, Christmas Packages, Signs, Toys, etc., and outline our house including the windows (every detail) with lights, and we put lights on all our bushes and trees, and fence with Big Red Bows.
We all stand back as my husband flips on the switch that turns everything on, and we all stand in amazement, holding hands, and even though darkness has fallen by now, and the temperature is usually about 38 degrees by this time of the year if not colder we all feel warm as the love of family tradition sinks into our soul and we all know we are home.
Christmas Traditions~
Our Christmas Tradition is about the same as above but instead of a Turkey we have a Ham with a Pineapple glaze. We also have 3 Christmas Dinners, one usually the day before with my Mom, because Christmas Eve is also my Birthday; so we have a Birthday Party for me and then our Christmas Dinner and presents afterwards. We then have a Christmas Dinner the day after Christmas with my In-laws, brother and sister-in-laws, along with all my nieces and nephews. We play games, eat dinner, and then open presents.
However on Christmas Day I rise early once again to prepare our meal of a Pineapple Glazed Ham, and all the same foods from our Thanksgiving Dinner.
While all food is being prepared everyone is watching the Game on TV, eating homemade Cookies, and drinking fresh Eggnog.
Once dinner is prepared and placed beautifully on our table, we once again all go around saying grace and celebrating Jesus’ birthday. Once again we stuff ourselves so full of food we can barley move into the living room and seat ourselves at our places. Once everyone has been seated I then began to hand out Christmas presents from beneath the tree as I do every year. As I am doing this my husband sets up the camcorder so that it has a broad view of everyone in the room, including the tree, and he gets video of me handing out the presents. Once they have all been handed out, we start with the youngest working our way to the oldest (my husband…lol) opening our Christmas gifts.
Once all gifts have been opened the mess is cleaned up, gifts are played with or inspected and then we put them all away as we all go outside and play a family traditional game of Football.
Late into the evening once everyone has either returned to their homes or is asleep in my home, I sat by the fire with a cup of hot chocolate made with milk and marshmallows as I watch the Christmas Video of that day and smile as my heart is so overly full of love for my family.
I LOVE our Family Traditions, and I have 22 years of memories of these tradition all in my heart and mind, and even 22 years on video.
My family comes back together the day after the New Year and we all take down the Christmas Decorations and pack them all to sleep for another year until it is time to bring them back out and awake them with our memories and Family Traditions.
Our Christmas Tree
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Posted by pixie_36 on 2009-11-02 12:14:46 | Rating: | Views: 30
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