Christmas Traditions

After reading Donna's blog yesterday, I decided a Christmas Traditions post would be fun to share.

Here's how we roll this time of year...

We used to spend Christmas Eve dinner with Rod's parents. This has changed since they participate in the choir at their church and end up attending all of the services that evening. Then we started doing a breakfast with them Christmas Eve morning instead. But with Rod working at the church this year, he had to go in at 10am. So, we decided to get together with them on the day before Christmas Eve for dinner. There doesn't seem to be a specific tradition here, as long as we get together with them sometime in the holiday maddness.

Christmas Eve we go to the early service at the church (usually around 2pm). We like to avoid the crowd a little and then we can spend the rest of the day with the family. My dad volunteers at the church and has helped with all 4 services this year and last. And again, Rod is now working there on the weekends typically, and this included Christmas Eve this year. So he went in at 10am and did not come home until around 8pm.

After church my mom, my younger brother, the kid and I went back to my mom's house for the day. We played and watched movies, etc. We worked on getting dinner ready before Rod and my dad came home. We had super yummy ribs. This is going to become a new tradition I think. :-)

The kids and I made cookies for Santa. We cheated this year and just made Otis Spunkmier chocolate chip cookies this year. I was not in the mood to make the sugar cookies with frosting like we did last year. I really would like that to be a tradition, maybe next year when the kids are a little older.

Christmas day in our pre-kid days was spent at my parents house. We would open all the presents and then make a big breakfast. Sit around all day just hanging out and then have a big dinner that night. We still pretty much do the same now that we did then, but we do part of it at our house. Since having the kids, I have my parents (and brothers if they are in town) come over in the morning. We used to open presents and THEN eat breakfast. Since Diabetes entered our lives 2 1/2 years ago. Now we usually eat first and then open all the presents. Santa is nice enough to leave a few things unwrapped, so the kids can play with those while they wait for breakfast to finish cooking and the grown-ups to eat. (the kids eat FAST, or very little on this day)

After breakfast and presents at my house, we get ready and head over to my mom and dad's house where we have another gift opening session. The kids are ALWAYS spoiled and get WAY TOO MANY gifts. But, they love it and I know how hard it is to resist all the cute and fun things for the kids. This year they are going to be VERY spoiled, I saw SO many gifts under my mom's tree for them. (I told the Superhero we should take some back because they are too many, he doesn't agree. Good thing I was joking. :) )

After present opening over there, we just hang out for the day. Watch TV, eat a light lunch, make the food for dinner that night. We then eat a big Christmas dinner. Usually that would consist of ham, potatoes, gravy, biscuits, zuccini pie, etc. We are having a banana cream pie and a chocolate cake for dessert.

So, I guess our actual tradition is not so much the days we do things, because as we have all gotten married and my brothers moved away, we don't always do the same things on the actual days, it is more about spending time together. And that is what it is really all about.

So, how do YOU celebrate?


And MERRY CHRISTMAS to you and your familes.


*Disclaimer: I am a mom of a T1 Diabetic child. I am NOT a doctor. I just play one in real life. Please do not take anything in this post or any other post on this blog as medical advice. If you have questions or concerns of your own, please seek advice from your doctor.*