New Traditions

What are your family traditions? Matt and I are about to share our first Christmas together. Growing up in different places, we have both experienced different traditions during this time of year. Here are some family traditions from my side of the family:

• Getting a Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving; in most recent years actually cutting the tree from a Christmas tree farm
• Eating brie and apples (prepared by my mom) while setting up the Christmas tree, and listening to Amy Grant holiday music
• Buying the chocolate advent calendar to count down the days till Christmas (thanks to my Aunt Raetta)
• Celebrating a "World Christmas" put on by my Aunt Marcy
• Catching up on all the latest movies with Dad
• Opening each gift (youngest to oldest) one at a time - taking the whole day of Christmas
• Shopping after Christmas to get the best deals
• My sister and I receiving/wearing matching Christmas pajamas
• Eating - morning, lunch, after lunch, before dinner, dinner, at midnight... all the time

Here are a few traditions from Matt's side of the family (In Matt's words):

• Eating Christmas Eve dinner at Mamaw & Papaw's 
• Opening gifts with the Corbins on Christmas Eve at Mamaw & Papaw's
• Breakfast at Mamaw & Papaw's Christmas morning consisting of eggs, pork tenderloin, biscuits & gravy, and Mamaw's preserves
• Playing in the snow with a 4-wheeler (Christmas 2010) - One foot of snow on the ground
• Christmas Eve church service at Holly Springs Baptist Church
• Singing in the church or county wide Christmas musical with Dad directing
• Watching It's A Wonderful Life with the family
• Two days of Christmas fun with the Reitmeiers
• Listening to the Blue Ridge Christmas CD 

This past weekend Matt and I bought and decorated our first tree. A tradition I love! Thanks to my mom and mother-in-law we had enough ornaments and decorations to fill our tree. Usually I turn on Christmas music while decorating, but instead we had football. I guess traditions can be tweaked :)

I am excited to share in our traditions together this Christmas. Merry Christmas from The Corbins!