Monday, December 25, 2006

The stockings were hung by the entertainment center with care...



I somehow had thought that Allen and I were on the same page as far as what Christmas traditions we were going to follow from each of our families. Santa wraps all but one present. Open one present on Christmas Eve. Christmas Eve church service. Tonight I find out that we are not on the same page. We were discussing Ashlyn's stocking, and Allen mentioned that we would need a lot of fruit and nuts to fill that stocking. I immediately said, "nuts?" I didn't have any nuts. Apparently, he thought that we would put nuts in stockings. Of course, he doesn't mention this until after 5 on Christmas Eve. He then says that Santa's presents shouldn't be wrapped. I wrapped them in front of him! What are your Christmas traditions?

As usual, I planned too many projects for myself. It started with stockings. I made stockings for Allen and I before we got married. Then, I started making them for family. Once I made them for one child in a family, of course I had to make one for all of them. Two years ago, when it was Jacob's first Christmas, I told my sister that I did not have time to make him a stocking (I was working full time, in school, and in the sick pregnant stage.) and I would make it the next year. Well, the next year, I had Ashlyn, Allen was gone, and I was still in school. So, I was going to make one for Jacob and Ashlyn this Christmas. Then, with the baby boom in our family, I needed to make four stockings for Christmas. I did manage to complete the first 3 toward the beginning of the month, but I left Ashlyn's, since it didn't need to be mailed or anything. I finished it TODAY, on Christmas eve. Nothing like the last minute on projects. I also decided to paint a set of table and chairs for Ashlyn, er, Santa decided to paint a set of table and chairs for Ashlyn. Fortunately, she has no clue, so I was able to leave the project out while I was working on it. But, now, it is just 30 minutes short of Christmas, and I have 2 pies, cookies, and a breakfast casserole completed for tomorrow. Plus, all of the presents are under the tree and in what turned out to be a gigantic stocking.

Allen, proving his point, that the stocking is ginormous.
Ashlyn's table and chairs


Even with all the excitement of presents and food, may we all not lose sight of the true meaning of Christmas as a celebration of Christ's birth. And, though we received our Christmas wish with Allen home this year, many more military are still away from their families this year. Remember them in your prayers.
Merry Christmas to you all!

Ashlyn and I before church

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Of course Allen is right about Christmas. Stockings should have nuts and fruit and Santa's presents are never wrapped...I'm surprised you didn't know these things :) In my childhood we had Santa's presents open when we got up then ate breakfast and once the kids cleaned the dishes we got to open the rest of the presents. Fortunately Allen's mother Joy had the same traditions (except the kids and dishes) so our Christmas' together went well. I was used to pancakes and bacon (pre-vegetarian days) for breakfast but Joy's breakfast casseroles were delicious. Sounds like you guys have it right!

Katie said...

Yes...I agree that you shouldn't wrap Santa's presents, unless you buy a specific wrapping paper for Santa. Because I'm pretty sure that's how I figured the whole thing out--Santa used the same paper my mom did. Also, then you don't have to deal with Santa's handwriting as another telltale sign.

You guys look so cute before church! The table and chairs are AWESOME and I hope you can teach me how to do that!

Angie said...

I can go along with nuts in the stocking, though it does seem like a waste, since Allen said that they never ate the nuts. However, I will continue to wrap Santa's presents. (Or, we will argue about it another year.) Half the fun of getting presents is opening them. I think that Ashlyn would have been overwhelmed if they had all been unwrapped, instead of just being overwhelmed after we had opened them all. Plus, this puts the focus on the one BIG present. And, yes, Katie, Santa has to have special paper. I didn't bother with that this year, but I will start next year. And, as far as the handwriting, Santa printed, while my parents wrote in script.

I don't remember a special Christmas breakfast, but I do like that idea. I made a breakfast casserole, but Allen did say that I should ask his mom how she made hers. Maybe we could do breakfast casserole and pancakes or waffles. I prefer sweet breakfasts. I'm all about kids doing dishes, though I won't save that just for Christmas!