Christmastime in the Past

I went and did some shopping today with my mom and we were talking about Christmas traditions that were near and dear to our hearts.

Sunday before Christmas:

We would get together with our extended family on my mom's side at someone's house. I enjoyed this time seeing my cousins. It was always a little awkward sometimes because we hadn't seen each other in at least a year.

Christmas Eve:

When I was growing up we always spent Christmas Eve at my Grandparents house in Social Circle with my aunt, uncle and cousins. This was always so much fun and I can remember the excitement of opening gifts and eating some of my grandmother's AMAZING dressing. We would eat dinner (adult table and kid table, of course) and then head into the den and pull the chairs into a circle for the presents. We always had someone who would pass the gifts out (usually with a santa hat on), and then wait to see what everyone got. We knew what we had gotten for Christmas from my grandparents because they would take us shopping weeks before Christmas to make sure that we'd like what we got.

My grandparents are in heaven now and Christmas just isn't the same without them. I miss them so much, and think of them often - especially during the holidays.

Christmas Day:

My brother, sister and I would get up pretty early and sneak into the living room and see the gifts from "Santa". We would always wait for my parents to get up before we opened the "key-coded" Christmas gifts. [To stop us from knowing which gifts were actually ours, Mom would put a square, rectangle or triangle on the bottom of the present instead of a gift tag with our name. I think it was mainly to keep us from opening our gifts before Christmas and rewrapping them.] Around noon on Christmas Day my grandparents from Social Circle would normally drop by to see what we got for Christmas.

After Christmas:

Another Christmas memory I have is driving down to my other grandparents in Baxley after Christmas. We had a few cassette tapes that we would wear out driving back and forth.


The Alabama Christmas CD was one of them. I still know every word to every song. I remember singing at the top of my lungs "Thistlehair the Christmas Bear" and "Christmas in Dixie". We also listened to Amy Grant's Christmas CD. Ronnie Milsap was also in our driving collection songs - not sure why since it wasn't a Christmas CD.


Pondering on these Christmas memories sparks a desire in me to really focus on making memories now for generations to come. As I've gotten older I'm realizing that it's important to spend time with your family during the holidays and make traditions that will last for years to come.