Traditions of Others

Recently I've had a couple of interesting conversations sharing the Christmas traditions of other families. So today I thought I would share with you a couple of "traditions of others" that I love. Hope you enjoy as I've spent hours trawling through blog archives for these = )

DILLOW FAMILY - PAST CHRISTMAS TREES

Photo By: Elizabeth Dillow

When I read about this tradition back in 2007, I loved it. Each year Elizabeth and her family keep a small part of the trunk of their Christmas tree, and the following year they add it to their "Ghosts of Christmas Tree's Past" collection. I don't think it's ghostly at all, in fact what I love most about this is the sheer history involved. What I would give to hold a piece of the tree my Grandparents celebrated Christmas under way back when.


ALI EDWARDS - ORNAMENT BOX

Ali's Grandma made this ornament box for her and her cousins for Christmas in 1980. I love that it's handmade and so very sentimental. I'm adopting this tradition and will give Brian an ornament every Christmas til he's 21, maybe longer. I figure that gives me a few years to learn the art of quilting and whip up one of these babies to hold his ornaments in. I will also be starting a small scrapbook, much like Ali's December Daily, that will hold photos and details of the ornaments we get him over the years. What an awesome gift it will be for him one Christmas when he's all grown up.

If you can keep a secret I will tell you that this year's ornament is a Nutcracker. I call him my little Nutter Butter (we don't have those candies here though) because he's such a crazy little kid and will do ANYTHING to make me laugh. I thought this would be most appropriate.


CHRISTMAS EVE PARTY

Kevin's family in Canada get together for a Christmas Eve dinner. Each family brings along a plate and it's a help yourself kind of gig. The effort though, that goes into the dishes, especially as you are catering for a large number of people is enormous!

In 2006 we celebrated Christmas with Kevin's family in Canada and we attended this event. I recall Kevin's Mum making her famous Chinese chicken drumsticks and we had quite the production line in the kitchen frying them all up. It's fun because it gets everyone together to make the meal at their own home and then it brings together all the aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. that night for a big party.