As I posted the other day, we have started a new tradition in our family by welcoming our "Elf on a Shelf" named Heart. She shows up in a different spot each night after reporting back to Santa on whether we have all been naughty or nice. She wanted to be a part of K's nativity today.
One tradition that has been in my family for years is celebrating "Little Christmas". Little Christmas Eve is the night before Christmas Eve and the idea comes from the festivities from many Scandinavian countries who do the majority of decorating and celebrating for Christmas on December 24th - "Little Christmas". In our house, Santa's elves fill the stockings on Little Christmas Eve as sort of an appetizer for Christmas. We were always the envy of the neighborhood growing up because we received some special little gifts a day earlier than everyone else. Hubby doesn't understand it, but he goes along with my desire to keep this tradition going.
Another Christmas custom in my family is to have a real tree. I am forty years old and have never had an artificial tree. Obviously a real tree is more expensive, a lot messier (those needles get EVERYWHERE), and a nightmare for my son who is allergic to everything. But a fake tree is just... well... fake. Christmas for me begins with picking out just the right tree that will fill the house with that wonderful evergreen scent. We learned the hard way that the tree farms here in Texas do not have the Christmas trees that I'm used to. Instead, our hunt for the perfect tree takes us to Walmart or Garden World. Not exactly the "trudging through the snow, cutting down the best tree ever and enjoying hot chocolate and cookies with friends" tradition I had growing up, but in the end, a beautiful live tree is all I really want.
So what brought on all this talk about tradition? Like I said, I'm an old-fashioned girl, and one of the things I enjoy doing the old-fashioned way is writing out Christmas cards, which is what I spent my weekend doing. I know most people don't even do Christmas cards anymore, and if they do, they often take a family photo or photos and create a card to send out. There is nothing wrong with that and I enjoy seeing the pictures of my family and friends from the past year. I like the ritual, though, of actually writing out the cards. There is something comforting to me about sitting with a cup of tea, a selection of holiday cards and my address book (a.k.a. my phone). I hand write the addresses and sign our names in each card. This year, as I've often done in the past, I've written a Christmas letter summarizing our family's year and I printed a family photo on it. (If you're reading this and you're a recipient of my Christmas letter, I am well aware that I spelled December wrong. I blame it on chemo brain, so don't make fun of me.)
I guess tomorrow I will do my part to help keep the US Postal Service in business and go buy stamps for all of these cards. I may need a loan.
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