The one tradition that has stuck, is that our family celebrates Christmas on Christmas Eve.  I’m really not sure why this started though.  If I had to guess it probably had to do with each individual family unit wanting to spend time with each other on Christmas day, so the entire family met up on Christmas Eve instead.

Now that my husband and I have started our own family, I want to start our own traditions.  We all think of presents and gift getting and receiving, but my husband and I recently talked about how neither of us really remember receiving any gift for Christmas that really stood out.  Nothing that really made a difference.  What we remember is the time spent with our family.  I want to make more memories like that for our daughter, rather than just buying her tons of toys that will eventually be forgotten.

This Christmas, we started that tradition with putting up the Christmas tree.  Our daughter helped decorate the tree with ornaments, some of which she made herself.  We all strung garlands of popcorn and ate a bunch of popcorn too.  We also made a bunch of desserts including a gingerbread train and cookies.  Our daughter helped decorate the gingerbread train and helped measure out the flour and sugar, etc. and “squish” the cookies.  It’s adorable to see her look at the Christmas tree and hear her say, “I made that” or when she eats a cookie say, “Kelly helped make them.”

That is what Christmas is about.  Not what new gadget is wrapped for you under the tree.

My husband and I were also just saying that we shouldn’t have Christmas lists in the first place.  If there is something we want then we should just buy it.  If it’s not something we want to spend our money on, then why do we tell other people to use their hard earned money to buy something that we really don’t want or need?  It’s a good question.

We’re going with “tradition” this year and buying everyone in the extended family at least one gift, but my husband and I aren’t going to exchange gifts and we aren’t going to buy our daughter anything either (she got way too much from everyone else last Christmas and I assume it will be the same this year).  But next year we may switch that up somehow, regarding extended family I mean.  Maybe we’ll make crafts/cookies for everyone instead of buying a bunch of “crap.”  It can be a new tradition of ours that we celebrate Christmas by making things for people that came from the heart instead of just buying something that we think they might like attached to a gift receipt.

Wrapping paper or gift bags? Always wrapping paper.  Although you can reuse bags, which is nice, I think bags are a poor way to wrap gifts.  The receiver doesn’t have any fun unwrapping the gift if it’s in a bag.

Real tree or Artificial? Artificial.  Artificial trees are worse for the environment (a lot of waste in making them and in deposing of them), but I have one that is a hand-me-down so I feel like I’m saving it from a landfill.  If I didn’t have my current tree already, I’d probably want to try a real one.

When do you put up the tree? The weekend after Thanksgiving.

When do you take the tree down? Sometime in January, close to New Year’s.

Do you like eggnog? It’s okay, but I’d rather have something else if I had the choice.

Favorite gift received as a child? I really don’t remember.  I loved getting books as presents, but I don’t remember one specific one that stood out.  Actually, I take that back.  One year I got Gone with the Wind.  I remember not paying one bit of attention to the rest of the festivities as I was engrossed in the book for the rest of the day, and the next month.

Hardest person to buy for? My grampa.  He always says he doesn’t need or want anything.  Because of this, he typically gets a few pounds each of summer sausage and Hershey’s milk chocolate because everyone remembers he used to like both of these things.  He doesn’t complain until a few months later that he’s gained a bunch of weight and it’s all our fault.

Easiest person to buy for? My daughter.  My husband is a close second.

Do you have a nativity scene? Nope.  We’re not religious, spiritual maybe, but that explanation deserves a whole separate blog post.  Christmas is a purely secular holiday for us.

Mail or email Christmas cards? Email would just be tacky, but I’m not too big on mail cards either.  I think cards for any occasion are just a waste of money and paper, IMO.  Photo cards are the exception.  I think those are nice and they get saved in a photo album.  Before our daughter was born we didn’t send out any cards.  Since then, however, we’ve had a photo Christmas card made with her photo.  I don’t know if we’ll keep this up or not.

Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Scotch tape.  My grandmother used to give everyone Scotch tape every year in their stockings.  But I guess it’s nice not to ever have to buy it again, since I swear I have a lifetime’s supply of it now.

Favorite Christmas Movie? It took me a while to remember, but it’s got to be White Christmas.  My husband’s is Die Hard.  Weird, I know.

When do you start shopping for Christmas? Late.  Generally sometime in the middle of December. Haven’t even started thinking about it yet.

Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Yes.  But I didn’t feel guilty about it.  Well, very much at least.  It was a Christmas present that I didn’t really need that I re-gifted as a wedding gift for someone who did need it.

Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Breakfast casserole: a mixture of bread, eggs, sausage, and cheese.  I used to make it every Christmas Eve morning, but unfortunately, I probably won’t be getting any from now on since our daughter has an egg sensitivity.  Bummer.

Lights on the tree? Yes, multicolored.  Although, if the hand-me-down tree hadn’t already come with lights, I probably would have opted for white.

Favorite Christmas song? Winter wonderland.  Mainly because it’s one of the only songs I know that isn’t Jingle Bells.  Although Jingle Bells isn’t bad.

Travel at Christmas or stay home? The whole family will go over to my mom’s house to give and receive presents.  But I don’t exactly consider it “travel” when it’ll take less than 15 minutes to get there.

Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer? Yes.  Before this year I probably wouldn’t have remembered them, however, after reading T’was the Night Before Christmas to my daughter more than a few times, I now remember them again.

Angel on the tree top or a star? Neither.  When we got the hand-me-down tree, we didn’t get the Angel that used to go on top of it, and we haven’t gotten a replacement.  I don’t think we will either.

Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas Eve.

Most annoying thing about this time of the year? The insane amount of people out shopping.  I hate shopping anyway, so it’s just that much more of a hassle with the stores so crowded.

Favorite ornament theme or color? The theme of our tree is animals.  We have more animal ornaments than any other kind combined.

Favorite for Christmas dinner? Cheese and potato casserole, generally Au Gratin, but not necessarily, and ham to go along with it.

What do you want for Christmas this year? Nothing much.  I guess the Dark Knight DVD would be at the top of a very short list.

What is your favorite thing about the holidays? Doing Christmasy stuff with my husband and daughter.  Tonight we made a gingerbread train.