Traditions Party

Dang, reading everyone's holiday posts for the "Traditions" blog party makes me sad I don't have more photos to share...so you'll have to settle for just reading about our family traditions....

Thanksgiving is always different every year. Sometimes people come to our house, sometimes we go other places....but my mom always makes great pies! :) The one thing that stays the same every year (and is, therefore, or Thanksgiving "tradition") is Black Friday! Oh yeah! We would NOT miss getting up at 3am and standing in 10 degree weather for 3 hours for ANYTHING! (You think I'm kidding? I don't KID about Black Friday. ;)) My mom, my sisters, my aunt, and my girl cousins all do it every year without fail. Wouldn't miss it for the world! One year, though, the mall by our house had this "Midnight Madness" sale...so the shopping started at 12am the day after Thanksgiving. We THOUGHT we could pull an all-nighter...but turns out, by the time we had to go wait in line at 3am running on NO sleep...it wasn't very fun. So since then, we avoid the midnight madness (because that's just madness) and we wait to get in line at 3am. :) Much better. Ever wonder what Black Friday looks like? Well, it looks an awful lot like this:Who knew $5.00 DVDs and "doorbusters" were worth a 3am wakeup call and pushing through the masses of insane people? Well, it is. :) It's kind of like a Mosh Pit for women (and men) of all ages. :)
Ahhh, Christmas. Christmas Eve is always a big deal in our family. We have our annual "Fondue Party" where my mom makes cheese fondue, and a plethora of other good items! Traditionally we always have little mini-egg-rolls dipped in sweet and sour sauce, fondu, angel food cake and fruit to dip in homemade chocolate hot fudge, stuffed mushrooms, and usually french dip sandwiches. There's always more...but those are the main things. :)

Since my aunts and uncles and cousins and grandparents all live within a couple of hours of us, everyone is usually there. We spend all day on Christmas Eve cooking and cleaning to prepare for the evening party.

When we were kids, we'd always plan a Christmas program. My older sister was usually the "director" and we had our fair share of fights over creative license. ;)

Christmas morning, when Santa would come, we couldn't go to the living room to look at our gifts until our grandparents got there. This was always the longest half an hour of the day, waiting for them to arrive. :) When they finally got there, we'd get to go down and see our gifts from Santa and open our stockings. :) We always got one big present (like a bike, or a new church coat, or a CD player, etc.) and then some littler items (like socks, candy, earrings, videos, etc.)

Then my mom always makes a great Christmas morning breakfast. Some years it's egg casserole...other years its waffles....last year I remember she made orange rolls (mmm...). After breakfast, we all divide up our gifts and go around one at a time (youngest to oldest) and open the gifts. Around and around, one at a time, until all the gifts have been sufficiently oohed-and-ahhhed over. :) Last year was my first year as a married person, and my husband couldn't believe how we all go around and around opening gifts for hours...so slowly..... I suppose it's something you have to build the patience for over the years to really appreciate. ;)

Christmas evening, we usually go over to our grandparent's house for dinner...the evening always varies a little. :)

So that's our tradition...same thing every year for as long as I can remember. It's great. :) I LOVE Christmas.

Now head on over to Emma Calls Me Mama and link up with your post about traditions in your home. :)