Christmas Magic

Traditions. 
Everyone's got 'em. 
This year, I got a peak into someone else's family traditions,
and it was so much fun. 

Adam's parents have this tree outside in their yard strung with big, bright blinking white lights.  You can see it from the road when you pull in, and from their kitchen windows where I danced at the fist sign of snow.

This photo doesn't really do it justice, but I'm telling you, I thought it was magical.

I'm pretty sure that was because it reminded me of this book that we always pull out around Christmastime, The Biggest, Most Beautiful Christmas Tree.  This "neighborhood" lives in this huge tree in the forest, and the children are afraid Santa will for get them because he won't be able to find them deep in the woods. 

Aunt Mimsy (who reminds me so much of my Great Aunt Jenny) scrounges up all sorts of decorations for the tree so that Santa will be sure not to miss this bunch, and everyone works together to make the Biggest, Most Beautiful Christmas Tree.

See the resemblance?  Maybe it's just me.  But that's ok.

We love to pull out our Christmas books and read them by the fire every year.  It's so fun to flip through them and remember Mom and Dad reading them to us.

Another part of Christmas that I love is singing Silent Night.  I have this memory of sitting in Nanny & Papa's kitchen and learning the words to that song.  I'm pretty sure we harmonized at the kitchen table, and again...it was magical.

At some point, I began my career as an event planner and directed The Christmas Story.  Papa would read it to us in his deep, bass voice, and the four cousins would act it out.  I was Mary, Austin was Joseph, Anna was the Angel, and Troy had a costume change between the shepherd and the wise men.  Unfortunately, I was pretty bossy and probably overreacted at some point before we actually got up there (Great for the Christmas cheer, huh?).  But we're all friends now, and I think they've forgiven me.

Every year, Christmas is a little bit different for us, but it's things like these traditions that keep it ever-so-slightly the same.  And of course the best tradition of all is celebrating Christ's birth. 

Do you have a favorite tradition?