Thursday, December 24, 2009

MERRY CHRISTMAS

The gifts are under the poinsettia (no tree this year)












and the table is set (if a bit fuzzy)











so we are ready for Christmas to begin.









And I, living in South Alabama, am relaxing, sitting in the sun with a good book (sorry Pat).

Our Christmas traditions have changed a good bit over the years. When it was just us, we spent most of the holiday time with my parents. Then we began having children (4) and the celebration centered around them. On Christmas Eve we opened the gifts that had been sent from distant relatives and on Christmas morning we first saw what Santa had brought (piles of stuff as well as stuffed stockings) and then opened gifts from each other. And for several years that was followed by going to my parent’s for Christmas dinner and more gifts (whew!!). For the past several years our tradition (with just the two of us) has been to have chili on Christmas Eve and then open gifts (all of them). We do take a little more time opening them than the kids did and we talk about the gift and the people who sent them.

Because only one of our children lives close, we usually visit with our daughter on Christmas day. We will be going to her house for lunch and be with her son and daughter and her husband and our great grandson. It will be fun to watch a child again at Christmas but at 1 ½ he is still too young to know what is really going on.

One tradition that we only celebrate once in a while is eating out: Chinese. Many years ago, on Christmas Eve, the pipes in my house froze. We had company that year and no water so we had to eat out. The only restaurant open was Chinese and we were really surprised to find lots of people there. So we started going whenever we were going to be alone on Christmas. This year, after the family celebration, we are going to FL to see a movie and then have a Chinese dinner. We are trying to get all of our traditions in this year.

I hope that everyone who reads this has a very Merry Christmas!

6 comments:

Julie in the Barn said...

Merry Christmas, Gari. We too have a Christmas poinsetta rather than a tree this year. For the first time in 41 years of marriage we didn't put up a tree. We just won't be home enough to justify the work involved. Enjoy your Chinese dinner. We'll probably have tacos.

Karen - Quilts...etc. said...

Having Chinese on Christmas reminds of the movie where the dogs run through the house and ruin the meal and they end up at a Chinese place. "A Christmas Story" I think it was.
Have fun.
Karen
http://karensquilting.com/blog/

Browndirtcottage said...

Here's wishing you a wonderful...and what appears to be a relaxing Christmas Gari!!

Twisted Quilts said...

My oldest grandson was born on Christmas Day 3 years ago and the Chinese restaurant was the only thing open. We always think of eating Chinese on Christmas too.

Quiltdivajulie said...

The rain has stopped - so all the children who get bikes today can go out and ride them.

As for us, it is quiet with three - less frenzy and more conversation. Good things all.

Enjoy your traditions - we are forging new ones (we typically have egg-bake for Christmas Eve dinner and bbq pork roast or lasagne on Christmas Day - sometimes we cooks steaks on the grill).

Shelina (formerly known as Shasta) said...

Merry Christmas to you as well. Those are great traditions. We go to the movies as well, sometimes we eat out.