Holiday Traditions!

Merry Christmas Eve all!

I thought I'd share some of my holiday traditions that my family shares

Every black Friday, right after Thanksgiving, we take down all the fall decorations and put up our Christmas decorations. My little sister and I always decorate the tree together.

On Christmas Eve, we used to read a new Christmas book that we had picked out that year. We've had books like Charlie Brown's Christmas, the story of the First Christmas Stocking, and many more! My Mom has kept all of the books still.

Christmas morning, we normally have an amazing breakfast of strata, which is thick bread, like Texas Toast, in a casserole dish with mixed up eggs and bacon or sausage. It's delicious!

My sister and I used to always wake up way before my parents, and since we weren't allowed to open presents without our parents we started our own tradition of taking our stockings apart and seeing what goodies we got together! Normally by the time we were finished and put it all back in the stockings, my parents have made it downstairs and gotten some coffee.

I'll never forget the few years after I started playing my viola that we decided to wake my parents up by playing Christmas music on my viola early in the morning...they definitely were NOT thrilled!

Also on Christmas Eve, we used to do a Pickle Present. Basically, my mom hid a pickle ornament somewhere on the tree (yes, an ornament in the shape of a pickle! I believe they sell them at world markets in the German section or something), and my sister and I would compete to find it! Unfortunately, my sister won most years. But then whoever found it would get to open the pickle present, which would be something that the whole family would use together. One year was a set of movie theater gift cards and candy so we could all go see a movie together. Or another year was an ice cream maker.

I don't know why they did it, but a tradition we got from my mom's parents is doing a shot and a beer first thing Christmas morning! I personally detest beer, so I normally give mine to someone else after at least taking a sip.

Message me or comment and tell me about your traditions!

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and stay warm!