Favorite Christmas Memories

1. The reel to reel tapes of Christmas music my dad played on a continuous basis for the entire month of December. He copied them recently onto CDs for me so now I can do the same...though with my 6 disc changer, I have other musical influences in there as well.

2. The time my mom got me Strawberry Shortcake underwear - 7 pair. Each labeled for a specific day of the week. And yes, I am just anal enough that I never wore a pair unless it matched that day.

3. The year my little sister panicked because she felt our stockings and they were empty (a week before Christmas, I think). Worried that I wouldn't get anything in my stocking, she gathered "treasures" from her desk and dumped them into my stocking. I was so suprised when I upended my stocking Christmas morning and my pile of little presents was topped by used erasers, pencil shavings, and rocks. =) Starshine has filled each of his brother's stockings with hand-drawn notes and pictures or used items he thinks they'll love. He keeps bringing down another book or toy of his that he wants me to wrap up for one of his brothers and place under the tree.

4. Baking plates of cookies for our neighbors: candy cane cookies, molasses, chocolate chips, Jello cookies (both red and green), and almond brittle. I still bake for my neighbors but my kids deliver pumpkin bread instead of plates of cookies. It saves on time and sanity (though we still bake candy cane cookies and gingerbread men for Santa).

5. Singing and acting in Christmas plays.

6. Christmas lights. All kinds. Except the houses that are outlined entirely in blue. Or red. That just looks menacing.

7. Setting up the nativity scene.

8. Christmas morning breakfast - between stockings and presents, my dad made his incredible "from scratch" waffles. I do Christmas breakfast now - eggs, pancakes, and sausage.

9. Cats stuck in the Christmas tree or diving on packages or running around the house with tinsel hanging from their ears.

10. Lazy Christmas afternoons curled up with one of my new books (always the perfect gift for me!).

11. Eggnog

12. Seeing my kids enjoy traditions from my childhood and making a few new ones of our own. (will blog about one of those soon...with pics)