I wish for continued tradition.
I am a sucker for routine. (Quelle surprise, non?) Same goes for traditions. When Christmas rolls around, I thoroughly enjoy the lighting of the advent candles, decorating the tree, preparing a fancy meal, wearing a pretty dress to midnight service, and waking up Christmas morning with my family. First we dive into the stockings — and per tradition, there is always an orange at the toe. We eat my mom’s famous Christmas sticky buns for breakfast and usually enough chocolate from our stockings to make us sweetly sick until dinner.
My favorite Christmas food is my grandma’s sweet potato casserole. With brown sugar and pecans on the crunchy top, this bright orange side dish is more like a scoop of heaven.
When I have a family, there are new traditions and old ones I plan to honor. Each year my Grandma Max gives each of her grandchildren an ornament. I also love receiving gifts from Santa, even as an adult. And we’ll probably put out a plate of cookies and milk on the mantle. New traditions I’d like to incorporate include following and advent calendar daily, caroling, baking a birthday cake for Christ on Christmas day and doing charity work on Christmas day as a family. Another tradition I think is pretty cool — my friend Mike comes from a Polish Catholic family. They decorate their Christmas dinner table with hay, to represent the manger, and have an additional place setting for the Lord.
I had brunch with some girlfriends this weekend; afterward we sat around drinking tea and working on this gingerbread house. I hadn’t decorated one since I was a girl scout, so this was silly fun. I think next year I’ll make gingerbread house kits to give to my friends with kids.
What holiday traditions do you enjoy?
~K