This Is How We Christmas

You would think it is December or something the way I've been posting these Christmas blogs. :) For someone who is having trouble getting in the holiday spirit this year I have posted a record number of Christmas pictures. I'm hoping that at least my Mom and Dad will still be reading my blog after I bore everyone else to tears with my Christmas memories. Just hang in there for 22 more days....:0)

Today, I am taking part in a fun little blog party Lisa is doing at The Preacher's Wife called This Is How We Christmas: Quirky Traditions. You can link up at her site if you want to join in. You don't even have to be a preacher's wife. It is so neat to learn all of the different traditions and celebrations people have for Christmas. Here is what she wants to know:

1. The Santa Thing- I believed in Santa until I was 16. Okay, not really, but I really wanted to. I LOVED the mystery and the excitement of Santa. My sister Jenny and I would lay in bed for hours waiting for him to come. She would often go looking for her presents early, but I never wanted mine until Christmas day. The surprise was the most exciting part to me.

My kids believe in Santa, but I really struggled with that. Not so much because I thought they would lose focus on the real reason for Christmas, but because they ask so many stinkin' questions!! I really stink at lying to them. And Josh stinks at keeping secrets. He gets excited about stuff we've talked about getting them and just talks about it in front of them! We're trying to get better though. Actually...can you keep a secret?

Josh was Santa. In the year 2000 at Winn-Dixie. You would think he would be better at this whole thing. :) This is the Christmas before we got married. I was away at school and he sent me this picture and I'm sure you can guess what was number one on my Christmas list that year!! So, now you know. Not only am I a preacher's wife, I'm also Mrs. Claus. It's a lot of pressure y'all....

Pictures with Santa are a must for us. Even if they cost more than our water bill. Even if my children are terrified and screaming in the picture. Why? Well, we've just always done it that way. :)
I will never forget the first Christmas that Sarah was old enough to really know what was going on. We wrote a note to Santa and he wrote back! Oh, if you could have seen her face! I'm not sure what was up with this plate from last year. Those cookies look pretty pitiful. I'm sure that is some traumatic baking experience I have blocked from my memory. Anyway, I'm not sure how long we will do the note thing. I think that is what gave it away for me. Santa's handwriting looked just like my dad's!

2.Christmas Eve Day- Lisa shared the best Christmas Eve tradition ever. Breakfast at Cracker Barrel and a day at the movie theater! Oh, that is so going to be one of our traditions as soon as my children can sit through a movie!

Honestly, since Josh and I have gotten married we have had so much change that we don't have many set traditions, especially on Christmas Eve as he had to work that day in the past. I wanted so much to carry on my family's tradition of driving around Christmas Eve looking at everyone's decorations. Bless Josh's heart. Our first Christmas together he had worked like a 14 hour day out delivering bread all over Tallahassee, FL and as soon as he got home I said, "Let's go ride around and look at lights!" I am pretty sure he was sleep driving. Thankfully no wooden deer or inflatable snow globes were injured in the making of that memory.

Coordinating Christmas clothes have always been a big deal in my family as evidenced by this very stylish picture which may cause my sister to never speak to me again. :) I just had to put it on here. Don't you love my Gilda Radner hair? You know, the "Gilda" came before the "Rachel". :) Those stockings hanging behind us were sewn by my Mama and my family has the exact same ones. I attempted to sew Josh's when we got married. My Mama was nice enough to sew one we could actually hang up in public and she has since made one for all 3 of my children and our dog Abby. You can't tell in the picture, but I have the biggest stocking and I still like to point that out every year. :)

My most memorable Christmas Eve EVER happened last year. It feels like it was last week! Anyway, it included pep rally skirts, hannah montana wigs and candlelight. :)
In keeping with the clothing tradition, our longest standing Christmas tradition is Christmas Eve pj's. You can see this one goes way back...........



3. Food and Parties- Our month of December is full of church specials, dance recitals, the downtown parade and the city party we always get invited to so Josh can bless the food.


Unfortunately I do not have much to share as far as food goes. The kids and I always make a birthday cake for Jesus and I buy a gingerbread house kit for them to put together. See this picture on here? Yea, that's not our gingerbread house. In fact, I may go to jail for using this picture. Will you visit me?
Isn't that pretty? We're working up to that. But let's face it, it's hard to make a gingerbread house when most of the candy gets eaten, y'know?

This year I am totally planning to make candy for our neighbors. Y'all hold me to it okay?

One of my favorite things to do with the kids is read a story called "What God Wants for Christmas". It has little boxes with different characters from the Christmas story and as you read along it asks you to open each box at the point that character enters the story. My kids love it.


Well, these are just a few of our memories and traditions. I am hoping to create some new traditions for my family this year and can't wait to read about how everyone else celebrates. Thanks for stopping by! Y'all come back now, ya hear!