The holidays are upon us again. Holidays bring up thoughts of family, friends, Christmas parties, the reason for the season (of course), people being nice, finding the perfect gift, generosity, I could go on and on.
We started a tradition for Christmas Eve & Christmas Day while my boys Jas & Sean were growing up. It’s pretty simple actually but we looked forward to it. After dinner: baking cookies, making hot chocolate, and finding our spot on the couch by 7:00. You see, A Christmas Story came on at 7:00 and we had to see the beginning of the movie – at least when it aired the first time. You know that movie plays back to back for 24 hours sooooo, as long as we watched the 7:00 show we were good. On a side note – did you ever notice how no matter where you fell asleep on that movie, when you woke up it was on the same scene?! Lol 
Then we’d set aside a cookie plate for Santa and sprinkle reindeer food in the yard so the reindeer wouldn’t get hungry. They were really the holiday Rice Krispies that come in red and green. Off to bed for the kids! Of course, we stopped leaving cookies and reindeer food once the boys reached a certain age. Anyway, my job was to finish wrapping the gifts and we’d place them under the tree just before midnight. One really special gift was left unwrapped for the boys to see when they came downstairs! Suddenly, it looked like Santa had appeared. You should’ve seen their little faces on Christmas morning!!
I’d wake up at 5:00am and prepare Christmas Breakfast! Fried oysters, pancakes, banana nut bread, fruit, eggs, salmon croquettes, rice, etc etc….yummy! After opening gifts, eating, calling everyone to say Merry Christmas, and relaxing, it was off to make the rounds to visit family and have Christmas dinner. The next day, we’d go through the toy boxes to make room for their new toys. In the spirit of giving, the boys would donate the toys of Christmas past to charity.
That was an old tradition. The boys are all grown up now. It’s time to start a new one. I wonder what their traditions will be when they have their own family – years from now 
What were your special holiday memories/traditions?
These are Just My Thoughts~
