The first such incidence was at the Candlelight service Christmas Eve at my parent's church, the church I grew up in. It had always been standard that, during the candle lighting ceremony, the congregation would sing "Silent Night". It has been very much a part of my Christmas. This year, the new music director at the casual service decided that he had another song he preferred. A song I didn't recognize. There was much grumbling amongst the congregation, myself included. A Christmas tradition by the way-side.
Another such instance occurred when I arrived at my mother's house. I mentioned the cookies and party mix that she always made for us. Mom greeted me with a suprise look and a comment on how she didn't make cookies or party mix for the kids this year. Needless to say, I didn't believe her. After much whining (and crying and a small temper tantrum that any 3 year old would have been proud of) Mom produced the usual bags of cookies and party mix. However, I realized that this was another one of those unspoken Christmas traditions.
There are other traditions that we know about, that we discuss openly. Virtually every year, once presents are open, Mom looks around, surveys the damage, and then will ask someone if we got a specific present. It is at this point that Mom realizes that she has forgotten to wrap someone's present. This year, it was some Petit Jean bacon, something we can't get locally.
Another such tradition is when Mom watches someone open a gift and utters the phrase, "There's a story behind that". This year, it was Dad's "Mental Memory" gift. Since all of Dad's gifts (or most of them) seemed to pertain to memory of some sort- the computer, blackberry, etc., This was Dad's *mental memory* gift.
One of Mom's *gag* gifts this year, was the present she received from Hemi and Boo. Pictured here, you can tell from Mom's face she was quite pleased with their gift of choice.
There is also the fairly new tradition where Dad "picks" on one of the dogs. This year was Hemi's turn. (But, let's face it. Hemi's a pest and deserves every bit of picking he gets!)
Of course there is always the tradition of placing a bow ontop of one (or more) of the dogs' noggins during the present opening ceremony. Such as these 2 from this year:
One Christmas tradition that I'm sure is common in most families, is the pre-lunch nap.
And then, invariably, someone has a little too much to drink:
In the end, being with family is about renewing old bonds:
No matter how old I get, some things just never change. Kyra will ALWAYS beg for food:
The table will always be festive:
And there will always be that photo that is worth a thousand words:
All in all, it was a lovely Christmas. The dogs are worn out, and haven't moved from the assigned places on the floor since arriving home. There are more photos to share. I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed being there and taking them!
Group shot of the puppies:
Hemi's favrotie spot at Grandma's:
Another group shot:
I hope you all had a ver MERRY Christmas!
6 comments:
Great shots of your beautiful puppers!
I loved reading about your traditions. We discovered two that our kids (20, 14, & 12) will not do without - one is opening PJs on Christmas Eve and the other is having their Dad fill their stockings. Kids' verdict: He buys better junk food than Mom! :^D
Beautiful photos and a lovely story about your family traditions!
Looks and sounds like Xmas.....I love Xmas! they are some great photo's :)
Thanks ladies! It was a good Christmas. I guess being away from home just makes each one more special.
I loved all the pictures!!
Oh, poor Hershey!! I had to blow up the photo to read the tag on her neck. You'd better keep an eye on Boo and Hemi to make sure they don't make a "free to a good home" tag. Loved all of the pictures! Your kids look so cute!
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