Red and Ruffled

Christmas time has come and gone, but I remember.....

We had a wonderful, fun filled Christmas this year. The Polar Express, 5 Christmas Parties, Christmas Eve at our house and many unwrapped presents later, I think we are still alive. I thought I would copy a page from Cara's blog and tell about some of my favorite holiday traditions.

Christmas Lights: Growing up I would help my Dad put up Christmas lights outside. Kurt doesn't care that much about lights because he didn't have them growing up, so now every year I get out and put up lights on our house. You have to have lights!

A real Christmas Tree: I remember as a kid the adventure of picking out a Christmas tree. It's still an adventure because I have to find that perfect tree. Luckily this year it was raining on us and it took me about 5 minutes to pick one.


Christmas Cards: Every year I spend a prolonged amount of time designing our Christmas cards. (Not so much this year)



People: I love having a lot of people together to celebrate Christmas. I guess that leads me to my next tradition.

Christmas Eve: The last several years I have invited anyone who doesn't have another place to be on Christmas Eve to come to my house. It's a mix between our family and friends. The kids act out the Nativity play in full costume and others perform. This year was a smaller group, but we had a great time sharing stories of Christmas with each other.

Christmas Eve PJ's: Growing up my mom would get us PJ's to open on Christmas Eve. Now she brings PJ's for all of the kids on Christmas Eve. She has a few new adopted grand kids. The kids quickly change into their PJ's to show everyone. It's great.


I want to share a story I had never heard that my dad told us on Christmas Eve.

When my parents were first married they lived in a small one bedroom house behind my grandparents home. My grandparents never had a lot of money, but worked really hard their whole lives.

One Christmas my grandparents had spent most of their money to put a new roof on their house. My parents had great jobs and felt like they were rolling in the dough ($12,000 a year) So they decided to give my grandma $500.00 for Christmas (that is a lot now) They rolled up $50 bills and hung them on the Christmas tree like ornaments. My grandma was ecstatic when she found the first $50 and she kept finding more and more. My dad said that this was the most excited and happy that he remembers seeing his mom. They never told her that the money was from them.

My parents have always given of what they have to us kids. I'm sure there are other stories like this that I don't know about. What a great example they are. I love you mom and dad. and thanks for sharing your memories.