Other traditions from Christmas

I thought these were important to write down as well. Holiday traditions were:

1. Christmas Eve at Nana's house - we would always spend Christmas Eve with my Dad's family about and hour and a half's worth of a drive away. We would eat some good turkey dinner and the kids would play while the women would do dishes and the men would talk, sleep or grab a smoke.

2. Candy Cane chippers - My nana makes the best candy cane chipper (chocolate chip cookies with candy canes in them). We never could duplicate the goodness of those and every year, she had them waiting in her apple cookie jar as a special treat for us. Ours would always come out flat. She finally revealed that you need to use parchment paper to help them not go flat.

3. the red styrofoam threaded ball ornaments on the tree - I love these simple ornaments and how the lights on the tree hit them. It radiates a certain glow that I just love staring at when sitting in the living room with the tree all lit.

4. setting up the Christmas tree to Manheim Steamroller and Kenny G (I love that music!) - it makes it fun to decorate while listening to amazing music like that. Truly means Christmas is coming.

5. Plum Pudding for dessert - this was a family tradition for dessert every year. Nana made really good plum pudding.

6. The infamous pickle ornament - I bought my sisters their own pickle ornaments a couple years back. Every year at nana's, the kids would hunt through the ornaments of the tree to try and find the pickle ornament first. Who ever did, would always get an extra present that night.

7. Santa tracking - My uncle was a volunteer firefighter and every Christmas Eve, we would listen to them broadcast news of where Santa had been spotted and track him throughout the night.

I'll have to add more as I remember them. I've always wanted to record them so I wouldn't forget.