Christmas routines....

I used to go crazy and start putting up my Christmas stuff Thanksgiving weekend. My mom gave me all kinds of hand made ornaments that I hung all over the walls, decked out any flat surface and went nuts on just one tree. As the kids got older some of the hand made ones stayed in the box and we didn't have nearly as many flat surfaces...the tree however has always been the high point. When we acquired Tootsie, the flat surfaces were kept clear of anything low enough we thought she might like to take down and play with. My mom gave us a set of musical lights a year or two before Ethan was born. We have put them and at least one other strand on our tree, depending on the size, every year since.. Ethan will be 19 in April and the music and lights still work. Don't know if we have ever replace a light either...it just keeps working year after year. Of course I'm really careful to put them back in the box each year too.


This year we didn't get as big of a tree, maybe reaches 6 ft but it's not as big around as usual. They will put the lights on today and then we'll decorate to night. With a fireplace the house stays pretty warm and the tree dries out quickly so we don't put it up the beginning of the month anymore. I'm not quite as nuts as my mom though. When she decorated the tree everything had to be in the right place plus she put the tinsel on one strand at a time so it didn't look shoddy.. to top it off, she took all the tinsel off one strand at a time and saved it year after year...even though the box was probably only about 15cents.. I remember buying them as Cassie was growing up for a quarter. I think I bought two last year for 79 cents each....they are harder to find each year. If Cassie is over when we decorate I let her and Ethan put the balls on and then I put the tinsel..usually a few strands at a time.. by the time it looks like all is good, I start tossing the rest, a few at a time, towards the top.. this year I think it's short enough to do it all the same..no tossing.. the last few trees have been close to 7 feet tall and I'm only 5'2".

I'm off the 22nd through the 28th for vacation. Not going anywhere just resting. I'm hoping I can get the presents wrapped Thursday or Friday and not be scrambling Christmas eve afternoon. I can't put them under the tree if we are going to be gone because I'm afraid of what the girls will do.. Chase loves wrapping paper. We open our gifts Christmas Eve after going out Christmas light looking..dogs too. Then we come home put on National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation while we open the presents. Of course Santa brings a couple things the next morning. Since Cassie has a kitty she won't be staying the night this year.. She doesn't want to leave Gus alone and screw up his routine. I was thinking of having a Christmas breakfast...ya know eggs, hash browns, bacon, toast. Something we don't normally do but getting everyone up and here would be interesting. 

This year we are having a Pork Roast for Christmas dinner. They wanted something different this year besides the usual Ham.  We will still have mashed potatoes, roasted carrots (Cassie fixes these),  Ambrosia fruit salad with marshmallows, cinnamon applesauce, rolls of some kind.  Cassie is going to make her Pumpkin Cake, very good.  Thought I'd make Ben his mincemeat pie too. He's the only one who likes it so I just make a small one for him.

As the kids have gotten older the Christmas traditions have changed and will probably change a little more with Ethan in College. Right now he is going to the University of Oregon in the Architecture program.  He has loved this experience of living in the dorm.  He did get really lucky and get into a freshman dorm with a great group of kids. He's made a lot of friends.  Cassie has her own place across town and loves it. With Ethan and Cassie not home, enjoying their new grown-up lives, it is just Ben, the girls and me, I don't have the desire to go crazy with my decorations anymore.  We still decorate the outside but even that has changed. We didn't put up the icicles and have only put up my moose, candy canes and the ropes. It still looks nice and you can see it coming down the hill towards home. Life does go on and changes all the time.