Traditions (part 1)

A few years back, around Christmas, I was worrying we don't do enough for the Christmas Spirit... I was simply fed-up with the commercial part and wasn't sure what to add to make it a true Christmas.

Little Helper

Yes, we start listening to Christmas carols (both on radio and on CDs) around November 15th. Yes, we decorate: outside & inside. But all these seemed either not enough or not in the right spirit. Of course we send the letter to Santa (email or snail mail).

But somehow I felt the Spirit is still missing. That 'something' special that adds the perfect touch - nothing material or edible...

That's when we started a few traditions.

First of all - it's making the cards. My hubby frowns at the time our son and I spend making the cards. However, it's not time wasted - it's a few hours of quality time spend together: we laugh, we chat, we create beauty. My son loves making cards - we emboss them and strangely enough he seems to never tire of the same stamps we use. Well, we add a couple new ones every year - but somehow we still use the original ones more than anything else. So for a few evenings in late November / early December we clean the kitchen table, bring the box of supplies and have fun.

Voila!

Some years we also make decorations - this year, though, DS doesn't seem that into making any decorations. I will have to figure out if there are any new ones he's still enjoy or if I have to simply accept that making decorations is a thing of the past (and granted - we have more decorations than one tree can hold!)

Then it's the tree itself. Our tradition is to put it up on Christmas Eve - the whole day is actually put aside for decorating the Christmas tree. We have done exactly that for many years - and always we ended up being so stressed and tired and just glad to have the whole thing over. Not exactly the Spirit... So a few years back we have decided that nothing holds us to decorating the tree the day before... how about the week before? The same year (3 years ago) we got ourselves in the car, all 3 of us - it was a very cold December day. Bundled up we drove to a nearby tree farm and... cut our own tree! I loved the whole experience - DH not so much, so we had to take a break for a couple of years.

But this year - the weather seems to be on my side - we'll bundle up again this coming Friday and drive to a nearby farm tree... the story about how we pick up a tree - another time.

Suffice to say that I am not missing the Christmas Spirit anymore - between carols, cards, decorations, cookies and the traditional baking we usually find it somewhere :) All I am asking now is for more time!

Do you have a special Christmas tradition? I'd love to hear from you!