My favorite tradition was.... on Christmas eve we would read James 5 and put on a little pageant. It was totally unrehersed and sometimes really silly, but fun. I remember being a sheep one year and having a big wool rug on my back-- After that we would sing Christmas Carols as a family and sometimes go Caroling. of coarse I could never sleep Christmas eve. In the morning the younger kids would wake everyone up and then we would line up on the stairs, take a picture and then my parents would unlock the double doors that lead into the living room. It was always a magical moment opening the doors and seeing the Christmas lights glowing and the presents neatly organiized in piles--I would look for my stocking and underneath it would be all of my gifts. We would go around in cirlces opening up gifts until they were all opened (which would take hours). That evening we would go to my Aunt Nancy's house and have soups, salads and appetizers and then go to the movies. I loved it.
my favorite family holiday is thanksgiving. i like how there are no presents involved and we just get together and have food - we just spend time together as a family. i don't enjoy the part of christmas that deals with gifts - at least the way it is now - so commercial and feeling like you have to buy presents for people.
* i would absolutely love it if we made a new tradition in our family: you could only give presents to family members that you made.
when mary got me for gift giving last year she asked me what i wanted. i told her i wanted her to draw me 10 pictures of monsters. it was really fun to see what kind of monsters she would draw. some of the monsters were quite funny.
i think dad told me about robert frost and how he would make presents for his kids. i think adopting this practice in our family would make christmas the best holiday in the world - ever!
down with buying presents!!!!
up with making hand made presents!!!!!
the other present i really really really liked was when jon framed a picture of me and him when we were little kids. i look at it all the time and it reminds me of when i was 4 and i was going through my drawers with mom to pick out clothing i would give to my new sibling. i new jon was going to be a boy and i was really excited for him to come. so - i loved the picture jon gave me.
I like the idea that Andrew proposed about gifts; however, if you draw my name for Christmas and buy me a belt, I will not be offended. I only have one belt and it is falling apart--and I lack confidence in you leatherwork skills. So just buy it.
Or you can give me 30-minute sessions of back rubs. That would be nice.
My favorite family tradition is Sunday dinner. Except when we don't have it.
One year when I was about ten years old and probably in the fourth grade, I became so excited about Christmas in early December—probably about the first day of the month—that I put a little bead bracelet on my wrist and decided not to take it off until Christmas. I counted the days and every day I’d look in the newspaper to watch the published “number of shopping days until Christmas” count down. Even though my parents must have had to struggle financially to provide gifts for us for Christmas, I never felt a scarcity. We could ask for one major gift. I think it was that year that I got a three-speed bicycle for Christmas. Of course, that was an unusually large gift. That December, my brother, David, and I spent many cold evening hours in one of the unheated chicken coops at Grandma Ballstaedt’s five-acre farm fixing up two old bicycles for Rock and Noel. We worked in the space that my father had used to do his body and fender work. We took them totally apart, painted the frames with some of my Dad’s liquor automobile paint, used rubbing compound to bring the shine back to the rusty chrome rims, and then put them back together with new spokes, tires, peddles, seats, handle bars, and handle grips. I think I became more excited about giving them the bikes than about receiving my new bike. We gave them to them on Christmas Eve at the party we traditionally had at either my Grandma Ballstaedt’s house or at my Grandma and Grandpa Taylor’s house. When I was younger, I remember being at Grandma Taylor’s house on Christmas Eve and trying to talk my parents into leaving so we could get home and into bed before Santa Claus came. I would have been mortified if we got home and he had already come and was certain that that was a real possibility.
Dad--that is so sweet. I think that is the spirit of Chirstmas--giving.
Andrew I agree. I like home-made or personalized gifts. Thats why I made aprons for all of the girls in the family--I guess i could have made you a paiting apron! --would you use one?
hey abi i would love an apron for painting - but the way i would want it made is the way brian kershisnik makes them. he buys an old long sleeve white shirt - like one at the d.i. that is an old church shirt - and then he sews a white sheet to the bottom of the white long sleeve shirt - so it is like a white shirt that turns into a long white skirt but it is sewed together - kind of like a hospital gown like thingy. when i wear them i look like a taliban member - or osama bin ladin. so yea - if you want to make that for me i wouldn't mind:) (Special Aba)
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My favorite tradition was.... on Christmas eve we would read James 5 and put on a little pageant. It was totally unrehersed and sometimes really silly, but fun. I remember being a sheep one year and having a big wool rug on my back-- After that we would sing Christmas Carols as a family and sometimes go Caroling. of coarse I could never sleep Christmas eve. In the morning the younger kids would wake everyone up and then we would line up on the stairs, take a picture and then my parents would unlock the double doors that lead into the living room. It was always a magical moment opening the doors and seeing the Christmas lights glowing and the presents neatly organiized in piles--I would look for my stocking and underneath it would be all of my gifts. We would go around in cirlces opening up gifts until they were all opened (which would take hours). That evening we would go to my Aunt Nancy's house and have soups, salads and appetizers and then go to the movies. I loved it.
Nice picture Aba!
my favorite family holiday is thanksgiving. i like how there are no presents involved and we just get together and have food - we just spend time together as a family. i don't enjoy the part of christmas that deals with gifts - at least the way it is now - so commercial and feeling like you have to buy presents for people.
* i would absolutely love it if we made a new tradition in our family: you could only give presents to family members that you made.
when mary got me for gift giving last year she asked me what i wanted. i told her i wanted her to draw me 10 pictures of monsters. it was really fun to see what kind of monsters she would draw. some of the monsters were quite funny.
i think dad told me about robert frost and how he would make presents for his kids. i think adopting this practice in our family would make christmas the best holiday in the world - ever!
down with buying presents!!!!
up with making hand made presents!!!!!
the other present i really really really liked was when jon framed a picture of me and him when we were little kids. i look at it all the time and it reminds me of when i was 4 and i was going through my drawers with mom to pick out clothing i would give to my new sibling. i new jon was going to be a boy and i was really excited for him to come. so - i loved the picture jon gave me.
andrew. thanks abi for adding a theme for a blog!
I like the idea that Andrew proposed about gifts; however, if you draw my name for Christmas and buy me a belt, I will not be offended. I only have one belt and it is falling apart--and I lack confidence in you leatherwork skills. So just buy it.
Or you can give me 30-minute sessions of back rubs. That would be nice.
My favorite family tradition is Sunday dinner. Except when we don't have it.
One year when I was about ten years old and probably in the fourth grade, I became so excited about Christmas in early December—probably about the first day of the month—that I put a little bead bracelet on my wrist and decided not to take it off until Christmas. I counted the days and every day I’d look in the newspaper to watch the published “number of shopping days until Christmas” count down. Even though my parents must have had to struggle financially to provide gifts for us for Christmas, I never felt a scarcity. We could ask for one major gift. I think it was that year that I got a three-speed bicycle for Christmas. Of course, that was an unusually large gift. That December, my brother, David, and I spent many cold evening hours in one of the unheated chicken coops at Grandma Ballstaedt’s five-acre farm fixing up two old bicycles for Rock and Noel. We worked in the space that my father had used to do his body and fender work. We took them totally apart, painted the frames with some of my Dad’s liquor automobile paint, used rubbing compound to bring the shine back to the rusty chrome rims, and then put them back together with new spokes, tires, peddles, seats, handle bars, and handle grips. I think I became more excited about giving them the bikes than about receiving my new bike. We gave them to them on Christmas Eve at the party we traditionally had at either my Grandma Ballstaedt’s house or at my Grandma and Grandpa Taylor’s house. When I was younger, I remember being at Grandma Taylor’s house on Christmas Eve and trying to talk my parents into leaving so we could get home and into bed before Santa Claus came. I would have been mortified if we got home and he had already come and was certain that that was a real possibility.
Dad--that is so sweet. I think that is the spirit of Chirstmas--giving.
Andrew I agree. I like home-made or personalized gifts. Thats why I made aprons for all of the girls in the family--I guess i could have made you a paiting apron! --would you use one?
hey abi
i would love an apron for painting - but the way i would want it made is the way brian kershisnik makes them. he buys an old long sleeve white shirt - like one at the d.i. that is an old church shirt - and then he sews a white sheet to the bottom of the white long sleeve shirt - so it is like a white shirt that turns into a long white skirt but it is sewed together - kind of like a hospital gown like thingy. when i wear them i look like a taliban member - or osama bin ladin. so yea - if you want to make that for me i wouldn't mind:) (Special Aba)
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