Christmas Traditions

A new baby brings new christmas traditions. While a four month old has no idea what is going on, we are beyond excited to have Santa come to our house this year. Today, let's talk about some traditions of the season. 

Stockings. Our first married christmas I made us some stockings. They don't have our names on them and they're really small. Of course H needs a stocking this year so I decided to get us all new ones. I searched everywhere for them. I really wanted the Landsend needlepoint stockings, so we could all have a different thing on them. However, the nutcracker stocking they used to have has been discontinued. C loves nutcrackers and I felt like if I couldn't get him one it wouldn't be the same. I found a few on eBay, but of course they had other people's names on them. I couldn't convince him to change his name to Jeremy. I found these at Kohl's and I really like them! They're classic and simple and no matter what I do for a theme, they'll go. 

Choosing what to put on them was quite a dilemma. Had we got them before we had H, ours would have our names. Putting our names seemed weird now that we're parents. I know most of my friends' stockings say "Mom" and "Dad." My parents' stockings growing up said "Mama" and "Daddy." We don't call them that now, but it's still cute to see. Having a 4 month old, I'm just not ready to be "mom." Makes me think I have a teenager. I know all you mamas out there can relate to the fact I'm not ready for my baby to not be a baby. 

Christmas movies. Like pretty much everyone we love watching Christmas movies! Our favorites are Christmas Vacation, 4 Christmases, Home Alone and Home Alone 2. I love the old movies like White Christmas, It's a Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street, Going My Way and The Bells of St. Mary's (Bing Crosby plays the same character of Father O'Malley in both. These are great feel-good movies!). Christopher's Favorite is A Christmas Story. I think it's cute and I'll watch it one time but I don't see why it's shown for 24 hours. I mean it's no White Christmas! I love that movie so much I even used it for our "Dress as Your Favorite Christmas Character" bunco night.

Books. Every year I read "Promise Me" by Richard Paul Evans. 

 

It's so good! It's hard to explain what it's about without giving it away. Here's the review from Booklist:

"Popular Evans offers up another magical novel, this one set in the 1980s, in time for the holidays. Beth Cardall’s life seems charmed, until she finds out that her perfect husband Marc has been unfaithful to her, and that their beautiful daughter Charlotte is sick with a mysterious illness that baffles every doctor. Then Marc’s unexpected and swift death from pancreatic cancer leaves Beth in financial straights. So she’s in no mood for romance when she meets an enigmatic, handsome stranger on Christmas day, but the man, who tells her his name is Matthew, is both persistent and charming in his pursuit of her. He tells her he’s a widower still grieving over the loss of his beloved wife, whose identity will shock Beth––and readers––to the core. The unexpected twist propels the novel forward, making the book impossible to put down. Though the ending ties everything up a bit too neatly, Evans’ many fans will enjoy this inventive, heartwarming tale." --Kristine Huntley

I was surpsied when I read the reviews on Amazon.com. Everyone seems to hate it. It looks like however they're all big fans of the author and this book isn't typical of what he normally writes. This is the only thing I've read by him so I have nothing to compare it to. 

Last year for Christmas my mom gave us all a childhood gift. Mine was the book "The Pink Maple House," by Christine Noble Govan.

Here's the description from Amazon:

"Polly wasn't sure she wanted to move to the new house for she suddenly realized that she and her best friend, Jenny, would not be going to the same school. They would no longer share the same seat. They wouldn't be walking home together. How sad life would be! However, Polly found that life in the Pink Maple House was anything but sad. The fun of Jenny's visits more than made up for the daily separation. There were so many new and pleasant experiences to share. "The Pink Maple House" is the story of the childhood of almost any little girl who grows up in the country. The author has caught the feelings, the foolishness, and the anguishes of little girls. Such incidents as the attic adventure, the doll scrapbook, the playing at 'Indians' in the barn, the school experiences, the baking of cookies and wrapping of Christmas presents, etc., are not only amusing and interesting, buy heartwarming, satisfying and comforting. "The Pink Maple House" is somewhat reminiscent of "Little Women" in that it is a family story in which the characters are kindly, natural and sympathetic. The story moves right along for the incidents are believable and the details are those about which little girls especially, enjoy reading." 

I have added it to my annual Christmas readings. I got excited when I went in Amazon, as I saw there are 2 more books and it's a series! I better buy them soon as one of my New Year's resolutions is to read all the books I already own before buying or reading any others. More on that in another post. 

Christmas china. One of my favorite things about this time of year is getting put my Christmas china. I have Holiday by Lenox. We eat everything off of it, even pizza! Why have it if you're not going to use it? 

What are some of your family's Christmas traditions?