St. Nicholas Feast Day

One of the traditions I didn’t mention in this post was St. Nicholas Feast Day.  Probably because it wasn’t a true tradition for us… until now.  I figure it can’t be called ‘tradition’ until it’s been done at least twice. 

My cousins moved a lot when we were kids.  Army brats.  At one point, they lived in Germany for a span of 3 years.  When they came back, I hardly recognized any of them.  The one my age was a boy.  I remember being there at the airport when they landed and I watched for each one of them to get off the plan.  Aunt and uncle I recognized, no problem.  The kids, not at all.  Then this boy got off the plane, ran up to me and gave me a GIANT bear hug.

Um, excuse me, do I know you? 

Yes, it was the boy cousin but it sure didn’t look like him.  He was just so big… and different!

Well, years later, the cousin just younger than me (part of that same family) served a mission in Germany.  Surprised?  Me neither. 

When she came home, I asked her to come and teach us a little bit about German Christmas traditions and customs.  She taught us a few and I fell in love with the idea of S. Nicholas coming the night of December 5th so the kids wake up to shoes filled with candy on December 6th… if they’ve been good.  If they’ve been naughty, they get a switch. 

December 5th would come and go every year without me ever thinking about it.  I’d always say ‘Well, I guess we’ll wait until next year.’  Then last year my brain was actually functioning for half a second and I remembered!  Go me!!

We don’t do the feast part on December 6th but I’m thinking we should have.  Maybe next year.

To be honest, I didn’t even remember this year about the whole shoe thing until K mentioned it after noticing the date on the calendar.  So, guess who went to Wal-mart after midnight for some candy. 

Me?  Psshhh!  That’s funny.

I sent Anthony.  I know, I’m the best wife pretty much EVER!  Hey Anthony, it’s midnight.  Go buy some candy! 

The kids loved waking up to this!  C ate his whole tube of Runts… the girls each split theirs evenly amongst themselves to get more variety.  C found H’s ‘hidden’ tube o’ variety and ate all but one piece. 

Sigh.  That kid has no self control.  Takes after his mother Anthony.

Don’t those sixlets just take you back in time?  I’m not the only one that ate those things, I hope.

 

Christmas Traditions

What would Christmas be without traditions?  We all have them.  I love and cherish ours. 

When Anthony and I got married, I have to admit that he thought some of my family’s traditions were really weird.  He was totally wrong.  Our traditions were really cool, not really weird.  But what did he know back then?  He’s adapted and has come to love the traditions that make Christmas special to me.  We’ve added a few of our own over the years, too. 

Anthony’s family didn’t have a whole lot of traditions so it was easy to push mine on him encourage him to adopt some of mine. 

I remember going to his Grandma’s and Grandpa’s Christmas party a couple of years in the beginning of our marriage but then it stopped.  From there, his family has put on their own Christmas party every year.

Traditions are what make Christmas Christmas, if you ask me.  It just wouldn’t feel like Christmas without certain traditions.  Some of the traditions I just couldn’t live without include

• decorating the Christmas tree (I know, original, right?)

This is traditionally done at our house on the Monday after Thanksgiving as our Family Home Evening activity. 

Speaking of decorating the tree, that brings me to another of my favorite traditions.  This one began when K was very small.  My mom and dad buy each grandkid (that consists of only MY children… my siblings have no kids, yet) an ornament or set of ornaments each year.  Sometimes they all match and sometimes they are completely unique.  And almost ALWAYS, they are fragile.  You’ll notice on the tree below that there are no fragile ornaments amongst the clusters.  {The kids decorated}  We don’t put the fragile ornaments up with little ones around.  Especially not B and C.  They would ‘accidentally’ drop them to the floor on purpose… just to see what happens.  So, this is a ‘no fragile ornaments’ year.  It happens about every other year. 

 

Another favorite tradition we have is opening one present on Christmas Eve.  It’s always pajamas courtesy of my parents.  Sometimes the adults get some but the kids know they’ll get new jammies every year.  I grew up with that tradition.  Anthony’s grandma used to make them each pajamas growing up to open on Christmas Eve.  I don’t think the tradition continued for him after she was no longer able to continue. 

One of Anthony’s traditions is Christmas Coke!  He has to buy a 6 pack of Christmas Coke every year.  He usually cracks into it when we put the tree up.  This year, C was determined to have a Christmas Coke as well.  He was NOT going to have the boring ol’ 2 liter of root beer poured into a cup. 

Little does he know that we poured the root beer into an empty Coke bottle.  We win!!  He sure was proud of that Christmas ‘Coke’!

Christmas Eve brings a few other traditions at our house besides the jammies.  We always read the REAL Christmas story from the Bible just before bedtime.  But before that, we read a Christmas book.  We try to get a new one each year but we’ve had years that it just isn’t feasible to do.  Those are the years we read a book that we already own.  We all agree on our favorite but I can’t reveal it yet.  That’s in another post ;)

We also have to make cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve.  It’s a must!  We also leave carrots out for the reindeer which the girls swear they hear them munching on above them on the roof.  They hear it every year!  Oh, and they hear Santa’s milk cup being set down as well.  It’s kind of crazy.

Another tradition we have during the holidays is baking for our neighbors.  My mom and I (along with several other relatives) have been getting together to bake cookies and other goodies for the past several years…. which reminds me… Um, mom?  When are we getting together?  We ARE baking, right?  It wouldn’t be Christmas if we didn’t!  People are counting on Greek cookies!  We HAVE to bake!!  “Do you hear what I’m tellin’ you?  The prince is marrying the sea witch… IN THE SKIES!!”  {That’s H’s rendition of the classic line from The Little Mermaid.  Just thought I’d throw that in there.}

Now, where was I?  Oh yes, baking.  We must bake.  That’s all.

More traditions… my kids would love for caroling to be a family tradition.  We did it once, a few years ago with a group from our ward.  SO FUN!  My little family on our own?  Hmm, not so much.  Probably would still be fun but seriously, no one wants to hear the adults in this family sing.  TRUST ME!  However, I hope to be remedying that very soon (details to come) ;)  Anthony will still have to stink at it.  Sorry, Mister…  But I’ll get better!

For now, I only carol in groups.  Large groups! 

Other traditions that we love include going to Temple Square to see the lights, driving around to different neighborhoods to see lights, and making gingerbread houses.

Christmas parties on both sides of the family include the White Elephant gift exchange (although it seems to work better for one side than the other… just sayin’). 

Nice gifts with price limits, not TRUE white elephant gifts like a used breast pump or something.  EW!  

Christmas day traditions are HUGE for me.  My absolute favorite tradition growing up?  Sending the little sister up to wake mom and dad (that way I wasn’t the one to get in trouble)………… at 4:00 a.m.  That’s right!  I could never ever sleep on Christmas Eve.  EVER!  That night always lasted way longer than normal, I swear. 

Unfortunately for me, my parents would never allow us to get up at 4:00 (I just don’t get it) so my sister and I would stay up watching A Christmas Story or The Wonder Years (it was a marathon every year) until mom and dad would let us get up.  Waiting until 7:30 was TORTURE!!

After seeing all that Santa had brought and opening gifts from parents, we’d get dressed and drive over to my Grandma’s house for waffles with strawberries and ice cream.  I don’t know how or when that tradition started.  I just know that it’s not Christmas without our waffle/strawberry/ice cream brunch.  That, right there, makes Christmas for me.  I could do without everything else as long as all my aunts, uncles, cousins, brother, sister, mom, dad, grandpa, kids, and husband are there to celebrate and eat waffles with me, I’d be happy as can be and my Christmas would be complete! 

And now you know some of my favorite traditions.  What are yours?  I’d love to hear!

 

What to do when the "Tooth Fairy" can't find the tooth...

Loose teeth around here are a highly anticipated event that lasts a very very long time.  My kids have been blessed cursed with my strong roots that just won't let go.  Our teeth are loose for a quite a while before they decide to let go and give the permanent tooth a chance at some daylight.  In fact, usually we have the shark syndrome where the permanent tooth shows up behind the loose one.  We get to have rows of teeth like a shark for a few weeks. 

Both K and A had to have their bottom two teeth pulled by the dentist.  The rest just like to take their sweet time.  I don't know what it is.  Frustrating, that's what it is.  They go for weeks trying to eat while avoiding the area with the offending tooth, and usually fighting some tears along the way because they bite wrong and it hurts.  But the darn buggers just won't let go! 

Finally, this tooth of little A's got the best of Anthony.  He asked her if he could just tug on it a little and then he would be done.  Instead, he yanked the thing right out.  Poor little A!  She cried but hey, that meant that the Tooth Fairy was coming... it's always so exciting around here. 

Around here, the best Tooth Fairy is not of the female variety.  I've tried, and I've failed.  Every stinkin' time that I try, I wake the child up trying to reach under their pillow to find the tooth (placed either in a baggie or an envelope), and replace it with a dollar.  Whose idea was that anyway?  Why do they have to put it under their pillow?  Wouldn't the top of a dresser be so much easier?  I mean, really.  Let's think about this, people.  I've tried getting my girls to go for this method but they have been brainwashed to believe that there is no. other. way.  The tooth goes under the pillow and there is no discussion.

So, after having to explain each time that "I was just checking to see if the Tooth Fairy has come yet," we decided that Anthony should have a go at it.  He makes a much better Tooth Fairy than I.  And so, the male Tooth Fairy was born! 

Usually it's a no-fail process.  It always goes off without a glitch at all but this particular night was different.  K decided to let A sleep up on the top of the bunk bed with her, on the inside.  We tried to get them to at least trade places but with no such luck.  By the time Anthony went in to make the switch, the girls were in completely different places, the blankets were askew, it was pretty much a mess.  Poor Anthony searched and searched the bed.  In the meantime, I was wondering what was taking him so long.  Turns out, he couldn't find the envelope with the tooth at all.  It was MIA! 

Well, if your kids are like mine, it would be such a devastating thing for the Tooth Fairy to not make it on the night they actually lost the tooth, but even more so for "her" to not take the tooth.  I don't know why it is such a big deal but it is.  So, what was I to do?  I had to think fast, well as fast as I could think at 1:30 a.m.  This is what I came up with, just tweaked my handwriting and came up with the most pixie-like name I could think of.  Pretend it's great!

Christmas Around the World

One party down, a couple more to go!  Don't you just love this time of year?  The parties are always so much fun.  I'm not sure if it's the party itself or the food involved that I love most.  It's a toss up, I think. 

Just wrapped up with Anthony's family party.  I think it was a success, overall.  The planning of it was maybe a little more dramatic than anyone would have wished for.  No one could agree on whether or not there should be a theme, whether we should eat at a restaurant or at someone's home, or how to do the gift exchange.  Should we go dollar store?  Should we set a limit?  Should we do homemade gifts?  In the end, we opted for a theme (Christmas Around the World), a Chinese Buffet place for dinner and later meeting at my house for a program, and dollar store gifts (although some went a little higher).  All I know is the less expensive the better for us!

It really turned out to be pretty fun.  Each family (well, four out of seven) chose a country and did a little research to find out about the Christmas customs and traditions of that country.  We learned about Germany (ours), Ecuador, Mexico, and Australia. 

While researching for German traditions, I remembered a tradition my cousin had told us about a few years ago.  She served her mission there and actually lived there as a young child for three years... military brat.  She had told us about St. Nicholas coming on December 6 and leaving candy in the childrens' shoes.  So, this year, we had our kids put their shoes in front of the fireplace... I had heard that he will actually come to the U.S. as well.  There just aren't very many people here that know about it  ;)  When the kids woke up December 6th, lo and behold, there was candy in the shoes.  Kind of weird, who wants to eat candy out of the stinky shoe?  But it meant that they must have been good little kidlets.  Otherwise, St. Nicholas' servant, whose name I can't recall at the moment, would have left them a switch.  Hmmm, sometimes I think they could definitely use a few of those around here, especially for little C.  But then I look into those big brown eyes when he says, "Sorry Mommy," and I just melt.  Why does he have to have such big brown, beautiful eyes?  They get me every time!  The cute little STINK...

I think it's a tradition we'll keep up.  Now the trick will be trying to remember every December 5th.  It was fun to hear about all the traditions from around the world.  Another one that I thought would be fun is one from Ecuador.  It's not really a Christmas tradition, more a New Year tradition.  My brother-in-law, who served his mission in Ecuador, said that they take a popular icon or something that represents the last year and make a BIG papier mache (sp?) model of it.  Then they burn it!  I can't remember if they do that on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day.  It would just be fun to try something similar to that.  Maybe not quite as extravagant as theirs.  He said one year, when the movie Titanic came out, they (the people, not him) made a gigantic ship about 50 feet tall and a whole block wide.  HOLY COW!  Can you imagine?  Ours would have to be a much simpler version but it would be fun I think.  What do you think?  Have you ever thought of implementing someone else's traditions into your family?

Unknown Traditions

We go out to my mom's house for dinner every Sunday evening. Certain things have become tradition; while at my mom's, we always watch America's Funniest Home Videos and playing a game of cards is almost always a given. I consider those "traditions". We also have other traditions for different holidays and such. But one such tradition was unknown to everyone... except my mom, apparently.

On Halloween, which fell on Sunday this year, we learned of this said tradition. As we sat there, eating our delicious soup that my mom had made, she casually mentioned to my grandpa that she always made chili every year on Halloween. My sister and I were sitting next to each other, across from Mom and Grandpa. We both whipped our heads around to look at each other as if to say, "She did?"

I don't know how to get the humor of this situation in a blog entry but just for the sake of having it written, I just have to. Kortney, my sister, and I laughed and laughed. My poor mom looked at us and declared that it was true. She always made chili on Halloween. I don't know where Kortney and I were every Halloween when this chili was being served, all I know is that neither of us remember chili on Halloween... ever! In an effort to get my dad on her side, my mom turned to him and said, "Didn't I? I made chili every Halloween."

We about died when my dad smirked and said, "Uh-huh, sure!" My dad's cousin and his wife happened to be there that night too. I'm pretty sure they didn't think it was nearly as funny as we did. But my poor mom was just fighting to make us remember this tradition and it just wasn't working. The next thing I know, I've got a breadstick flying at my head and birdie finger flying my way also. Oh Mom, I love you! She just happens to remember things that no one else remembers, and I mean no one else. She's so funny. Love her!

I may not remember the chili but my family has got some pretty fun traditions. I hope to get some of them written here. They mean a lot to me.