Holiday Traditions

As my cousin Brandon put it in his Christmas letter, during the holiday season we should "remember that the real gift isn't the gaudily-wrapped fruitcake, it's the fruitcake who gave it to you." This is a time to be with family and loved ones and cuddle up next to those children gazing at the twinkling lights on the Christmas tree...waiting for a glimpse of Santa and his sleigh.

This year has been filled with traditions, some new, some old -- we are excited to continue the traditions through the years to come.

Of course, as I get nostalgic, I can't help but bring out some old photos of years past. Ahh... the wonderful memories. One of the oldest and long-standing family traditions is my Grandpa Clete (mom's dad) making Tom and Jerry's at The Farm (their house) on Christmas Eve. He's since passed away and looks down on us with the Angels, but don't be fooled, his presence is there every Christmas Eve to guide my aunts and uncles as they try to make the festive drink -- just as they were taught by their dad.

circa: 1979

My mom "always" made cookies and homemade chocolate covered cherries when we were old enough to help, and making chocolate covered cherries from scratch -- with the dough between the cherry and the chocolate -- not as easy as you may think, very time consuming and messy. She always picked the complicated stuff to make.

For as long as I can remember we always had Swiss Cheese Fondue at Christmas time. It was a luxury, and so fancy. My mom would get out the good china and stemware and made it really fancy with the tablecloth and linen napkins. We also had shrimp in hot lemon butter - my sister and I loved this and look forward to it every year.

Usually, especially once we were older, we attended midnight mass (11:00pm at our church) and then went home to discover that Santa had already stopped by. We would make hors d'oeuvre, stay up really late, and open presents. In hind-sight, I think this was a way to allow my parents to sleep in on Christmas morning, but it worked great for us.

Most of the holidays when I was young involved running from place to place, oh wait, I'm old and we still run from place to place... I guess that's what you do. But make no mistake about it, Christmas Eve was reserved for The Farm (my mom's parent's house, Grandma and Grandpa Frederick), with 17 kids and 80+ grandkids, it was a full house and everyone gathered. We would sing Christmas carols around the tree until we heard footsteps outside and we'd rush to the window to catch a glimpse of the reindeer as Santa surprised as at the door every year. Santa would hand out presents to the young and old, everyone got a present from Santa and got to sit on Santa's lap. It really is a highlight of my Christmas memories and I hope that Annabelle will be able to have such fond memories at Great Grandma Frederick's house as well.

Kyle's first Christmas at The Farm, 2004.

And Belle's first Christmas, 2008.

Usually, we try to get a group photo, some folks don't make it into the photo, but here's a glimpse of the gang in 2004.

For a long time on Christmas Day we would head over to my Grandma and Grandpa O'Donnell's house. My Grandma O'Donnell always made Peanut Butter Blossom cookies (with the chocolate star instead of the kiss) and keeping with tradition, Belle and I made these cookies this year as well. My great-aunt Lucille would join us for dinner/lunch with all the fixings. My Grandpa O'Donnell would attempt to "carve" the turkey. The children would open presents one by one -- how painful -- and the adults would watch in anticipation as our eyes would light up with excitement. This is where I got my first stapler and file box, from my Godfather Mark, I was 5 and it was the only thing I wanted (I think he even threw in some tape, an added bonus).

After the children started getting a little older, our O'Donnell extended-family Christmas celebration was moved to the weekend and Christmas Day was spent at home, just my sister and my parents, relaxing and watching movies. We ate popcorn for lunch and snacks all day.

We are starting a few new traditions of our own now that we have a little one.

• Every Christmas Eve Belle gets to open a present filled with new jammies to wear to bed and open presents in Christmas morning.
• We're going to start the Elf on the Shelf book next year. I thought it was a little too early this year.
• After Thanksgiving, Auntie Angie sends a new Christmas book for Belle to read and to help her start preparing for the holiday. This year it was The Night Before Christmas.
• Every year I am going to purchase a Christmas tree ornament that reminds me of Belle. (My mom did the same thing and I wondered why I had two devil ornaments, back-to-back years?) This year she got a pink puppy ornament because she loves her puppies and can't seem to be far from them... they are so loved that they are tattered -- already at age 1. I bought a second puppy after I realized that she couldn't live without it just in case, and now, she carries around two puppies... hmm.... I don't think I did that right?
• Last year I thought about starting the tradition of matching jammies for the family every Christmas. But, after some more thought and not wanting to get jammies with dogs, snowflakes or something else less attractive on them, I think we're going to skip this idea. The plaid was easy, but I think that's were it ends.

• We've already started the tradition of baking sugar cookies and peanut butter blossom cookies, Annabelle helped and thought the frosting tasted fantastic.

Well, that's all we've got for now. Wishing you a blessed, peaceful and merry Christmas Eve.

Love, Katie, Kyle and Annabelle Jefcoat