[meme] holiday advent calendar ▵ countdown to christmas ▵ day o13

[delacourtings]

DAY O13

bit of a different post today but hopefully these may inspire you to start
or reinstate some fun holiday traditions of your own!



oo1. christmas eve pajamas
every christmas eve my mother allows my sisters and i to open two presents.
one of them is always a new set of pajamas, sometimes with a matching pair of slippers,

and after everyone has opened theirs we go put them on and sleep in them and open presents
in them the next morning. it's a fun little tradition and allows young children to open a present before
it's actually christmas day which calms them down a bit.

oo2. christmas ornaments
the other present my mother allows us to open is always a christmas ornament.

each ornament is different for each child, because it reflects something signifcant that child did that year.
me and my sister both got cheerleading ornaments the year we were cheerleaders,
i got a car ornament the year i got my driver's license, etc., etc. it's also a way to placate younger kids
and is a way to preserve memories on your christmas tree every year.

oo3. christmas eve night service
our family isn't particularly religious, although we were when i was younger.

but every year we go to the christmas eve nighttime service at a local church.

oo4. waffle house dinner
following the church service, we always go out to dinner at waffle house,

since it's usually the only thing open. it's a nice way to eat and spend time together
but without cooking a big meal, which we'd rather not do since there's only four of us.

oo5. cookies and milk
even though everybody in my household no longer believes in santa,
we still leave out a plate of cookies and a mug of milk for him. we even have a special
santa plate and mug for him. and when we wake up the next morning at least half the milk is gone
and the cookies have been bitten out of. i think my mom gets the most out of it more than anyone.

oo6. sausageballs
every morning my mom always makes sausageballs for breakfast. i no longer eat meat
or dairy, but when i did they were my favorite thing of hers. they're pretty small and you can
make a lot easily, so they're great to have on christmas morning when you don't feel like cooking.
plus, you can also just snack on them all day, which is what my family does.

oo7. 24 hour a christmas story
if you didn't know tbs airs a christmas story for twenty-four hours during christmas.
and each television in our household is on it the entire twenty-four hours. it's
my dad's favorite christmas movie and has become the family's as well. it's hilarious while still
being kid appropriate. it's a classic.

oo8. cookie palooza
this is more of a recent tradition, having formed just a couple of years ago
when my mom got invited to one. you basically get a group of your (preferably baking)
friends together and make a ton of cookies. all different kinds.
it's not as big of a task when you have a bunch of people doing it together and having fun.
afterwards, everyone can box up what they want to take.
we always send some with my sisters to take to their teachers and i like to mail some
to my friends who live in different states. they're great presents.

oo9. red velvet cake
my mother is an amazing baker. people pay for her baked goods, she really is that wonderful.
she used to do it a lot, but not so much anymore. however, the holiday season is when everyone wants her cakes.
particularly, her red velvet cake. i was never a fan of red velvet even when i could eat it
(i preferred her 12 layer chocolate cakes instead). but everyone i've ever met who does enjoy red velet
has claimed hers to be the best they've ever had. she makes them for people's thanksgiving parties, christmas parties,
everything. it ain't christmas if mama ain't in the kitchen with red food coloring.

o10. small secret santa
my youngest sister started this one year. she wanted us to have this
small little secret santa between the family. we drew names on christmas eve i think
and then we had to make something thoughtful for us to give our secret santa. it was very lax but still a lot
of fun as the looming deadline of christmas was so close. we could only use stuff already in the house
which made it challenging and even more fun.

o11. last minute grocery store run
i don't think this started with the intention of becoming a tradition but alas. i remember
the first time i ever went with my mom to the grocery store on christmas eve. i was in middle scool and a little bit
scared because i had never seen the store that frantic or crazy before. we had only needed one little thing but
it was like being in an episode of the amazing race trying to get it. and as far as i can remember, we've always
managed to forget something and needed someone to brave the grocery store to get it every year since.

o12. late christmas
my dad works in law enforcement and therefore he has to work nights often and he works a lot.
before he was in law enforcement he was a truckdriver. because of this we would often have to wait until he woke up
on christmas morning. even if we woke up at 6 am, we weren't allowed to actually start opening any presents until he was up and ready. we actually spent this time making the sausageballs mentioned in number six and watching the parade on tv. after he was (finally) up and ready all the kids would open the presents while dad took pictures with his canon and mom drowned in her coffee.