Traditions

Christmas is going to be AWESOME this year!! We have so many different things happening…I just want to savor every moment. Here are a few of my favorite moments each year:

1. Christmas Candy - my sister, my mom, the girls and I make candy together every year. We’ve been doing this for about…well…too many years to count! Now that my girls are grown, my 5 year old nephew has joined in as the official “sprinkler” for any pretzels or cookies. We laugh out of control the entire day (I think this could be a response to our system being overloaded with sugar?!). We each have our trademark candy that we make. Sometimes we retire recipes and add new ones. Regardless, the results are addictive and sweet!

2. Doug’s brother and family comes in every year for Christmas. I cannot imagine traveling in each year, but they do it without complaining. It seems as the kids have gotten older (most are teens now) a sleepover has developed where all of the cousins get together. I absolutely love it! I don’t get to see all of them often, so having them all over at the same time this year is going to be great. Baking cookies at midnight is the best…hope Micki doesn’t fall asleep early again.

3. My newest tradition that is beginning this year is having Doug home for Christmas. Not having to plan around shift-work is going to be amazing. All God!

I am so very thankful to have the opportunity to celebrate Jesus’ birth. Without Jesus in my life, there would be NOTHING for me to celebrate. The way I see it: Jesus is the ONLY reason for the season.

Got anything special you do for the Christmas Holidays? What are your traditions?