My Traditions for Thanksgiving and Christmas

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My Traditions

Thanksgiving -

My mom always makes a great Thanksgiving dinner for the holiday. Turkey, dressing, green bean casserole, rolls, gravy, sweet potatoes, cranberries, pies...the works! I'm not sure if this would be considered a tradition or torture. LOL! I soon learned to expect her to come running up the stairs to chase me through the house with the giblets from the turkey. When she did it for the first time, I remember running into my closet and trying my hardest to hold the door shut while she tried to pull it open. She was stronger. This was a tradtion in the house until I got to the point where it didn't bother me anymore. Believe it or not, it took a few years until I was able to say, "I don't care, wave them in my face, they don't bother me anymore."

Christmas -

Our Christmas traditions were pretty regular. We'd find a tree (real), drag it into the house (just my mom and I) and spend close to an hour trying to get the damn thing to stay straight. I would do the lights, I loved doing the lights, while she would get all the ornaments out an dmake sure they all had hooks. We'd spend a lot of time making sure the tree looked just right. Then we would plug in the lights and leave it lit for the rest of the day.

On Christmas Eve (when we were younger), my sister and I were allowed to open one present. I always went for the biggest one. I could barely sleep through the night and was usually the first up. I would sit by the tree until I couldn't take it anymore and then I would find ways to make subtle sounds throughout the house to kind of jolt my mom awake. It worked. We'd open all our presents and then spend the whole day playing with them or trying them on.

We continue a few traditions now. For Thanksgiving I plan on sharing some of my mom's recipes with our close friends. For Christmas, my son (and once my daughter is old enough) is allowed to open one gift on Christmas Eve. We also spend a whole day decorating the house with the tree, lights, stockings and more. And we can't forget to put cookies and milk out for Santa Clause the night before.

For those of you who don't know, my hubby is in the military so we don't live near our families. I keep my mom and sis in my heart during the holiday's when were not able to be with each other.