Holiday Traditions

            I think that every family has some sort of holiday traditions, even if they don’t realize it.  They might be as simple as what you eat or something goofy like you have to do the Chicken Dance before every gift you open.  Honestly I really had to kind of think about some of the traditions my family has since they are all pretty basic and not that goofy.

1.      Every year, on the Sunday before Christmas, my entire family goes up to my grandparents on my mom’s side and we have a very large gathering.  This started happening long before I can actually remember since we have such a large family it is hard to make it work for everyone on Christmas.

2.      For Christmas on my mom’s side we always do a sort of gift exchange.  Everyone under the age of 18 has their name put in one hat and everyone else in the other hat, and we all take turns coming up and drawing a name.  Whoevers name you end up with is the person whose present you are getting but there are some rules.  On the kids side, you can’t buy a present for a sibling or a godchild (which only affects me and one of my cousins) and the gift must be in the price range of $10-15.  On the adult’s side, you can’t buy a present for your spouse and the present must be in the price range of $15-20.

3.      On Christmas Eve, we always invite my grandparents from my dad’s side, cousin, and my dad’s sister who lives in town to our house.  This is the night where we open most of our presents and we always have some sort of big meal.

I’m sure I am missing some of my family’s traditions, but even simple things like these count as traditions that make the holidays mean what they do to you. Merry Christmas to all!

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