Friday, December 19, 2008

CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS

Traditions are defined as:
"The passing down of elements of a culture from generation to generation."
Every family has traditions, from what they eat for Christmas Dinner (we eat Prime Rib), to when they open their gifts, to when who they spend the holiday with, they are part of what makes the Christmas season so fun.
A lot of our traditions centered around the Christmas goodies that Mom made every year. She would make fudge, divinity, Penuche and butterscotch rolls. Dad would make fruit bread. Every Christmas Eve Mom would make plates of goodies and we would take them to the neighbors.
The only candy I learned to make was the fudge. Each year I make 3 flavors and send it to missionaries and family. Leanne & I also take it to work, a tradition Mom started many years ago.


This years batches of fudge was a little late. I was busy with another tradition. This year I made the traditional chocolate, peanut butter Chocolate and butterscotch.
Another tradition that started more recently, after Mom & Dad moved to Arizona.
Every year we get together with our extended family for Christmas Eve dinner(ham & funeral potatoes, with assorted side dishes),singing "I Heard Him Come", the reading of the Christmas story from Luke and a visit from Santa.

Each of the children sit on Santa's lap and are given a goody bag and a present that has been provided by the parents. After the kids are taken care of, the adults exchange handmade gifts. Everyone that wants to participate makes a gift to give to the others. Its always fun to see what everyone comes up with each year.


This is a gift I made for some people on my Christmas list. Its an exploding Picture box. I will post pictures of the gift I am making for Christmas Eve after the party, since I would hate to ruin the surprise for anyone.Christmas breakfast at Dad's house is a longstanding tradition. We will have scrambled eggs, bacon and the traditional butterscotch pull apart., before we go to Tom's house.


What are some of the fun Christmas Traditions your families have?

5 comments:

Shirley Bahlmann said...

On Christmas morning, the boys have to pull Dad out of bed. Then we have to take care of the animals, eat breakfast, and clean up before we can march into the Christmas present room and open presents. I've adapted my childhood free-for-all gift opening to my husband's take turns and see what each other received, because that makes it last longer and prolongs the fun and joy of giving!
We also read the Luke account of Christ's birth on Christmas Eve.

Krystal said...

AAAHHHHH I wish we had Christmas traditions! We are either with the inlaws or the inlaws come here and they arent LDS so we have no constant traditions other than presents. This year the inlaws couldnt make it so we were able to make a go at a Nativity reading tradition on Christmas eve.

Unknown said...

Our traditions also include homemade gifts--we exchange names in the immediate family, and make a gift for Christmas for that person. We exchange these gifts on Christmas eve, and watch "It's a Wonderful Life" together, and see who can stay awake for the whole thing! I LOVE traditions.

Unknown said...

P.S. What was the gift you made this year?

Unknown said...

My gift was the Crocheted Nativity from the Christmas post. It is a year Christmas project. A few pieces each year.