With Thanksgiving two weeks away and Christmas being less than six weeks away, I find myself becoming short of breath and anxiety starts to set in.  I know people who have all of their Christmas shopping completed, for everyone. I haven’t even started thinking about it until sitting down to write this post. Needless to say, I am not a fan of shopping for people for Christmas.  This is one tradition I could do without. It’s not that I do not love and adore the people I am shopping for, it’s just that all the people I love are hard to shop for. It would be much easier just to make them all scarves that I arm knitted and call it a day. But I have to put thought and careful consideration into choosing a gift that will make my loved ones smile. I have never and will never partake in Black Friday.

I have a better tradition on the day after Thanksgiving.

This is where the “Good Traditions” take over.  My dad’s favorite holiday, by far, was Thanksgiving.  He loved having his kids and grand kids around him while watching some great football and eating some great food. The next day, we would spend it decorating and getting prepared for Christmas.  Around 1987, I bought a movie for my dad with my allowance for Christmas and that started a new tradition. While decorating, we would watch “A Christmas Story.” Imagine my father’s glee when TBS started airing the movie for 24-hours straight on Christmas Eve. I have continued this tradition with my family. I knew I wanted to marry my husband when he told me that “A Christmas Story” was his favorite holiday movie.  This tradition has always been very important to me and I love the fact that my husband and kids love sharing it with me.

Some families have really “ugly traditions.”  My cousins have one. Each year, they, along with my aunt and uncle, have their Annual Ugly Christmas Sweater Party. You’re welcome to come to the party, but you better be adorning ugliest Christmas sweater you can find. There is a contest and everyone exchanges gag gifts! This part of my family is where I get my sense of humor.

We all have our own holiday traditions. Some are fun, some can be stressful at times, and some are in honor of those who came before us. We all need to remember the most important thing about traditions – which is to pass them on when you can.

What are some of your family’s funny and/or time honored holiday traditions?

 

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