christmas traditions

• two years ago we started a christmas eve tradition. my mom and i make michael a potjiekos (poi-ki-kaus...it's afrikaans and means "little pot of food"). it's made in an actual potjiekos (little case iron skillet thing that hangs over a fire or sits on the stove). it's a south african dinner that michael, and now mom and dad and i love. it sort of ends up like a stew. we serve it with curry rice. it's delicious! we listen to ladysmith black mombaza (a south african group) while we're cooking and eating. michael almost cried the first year when he walked in the house and realized what we had done. his first bite was so wonderful to see.
  
• my granna (my dad's mom) used to make bows for our christmas present wrapping. since she died, there is one bow that remains in our family. each year, someone else gets the bow. it's always really exciting to look under the tree and see who's present the bow is on. it's a great reminder of our granna.
• we have gotten pj's as one of our presents every year for as long as i can remember. we get to open one present on christmas eve. it's always the pj's. that way, we have them on all night and have something new and cuddly to wear for presents the next morning.
• stockings are always our favorite and the first thing we open. mom passes out the stockings and we sit on the floor and pull the contents out one at a time. it's fun!
• dad is santa. we all sit around and dad passes out the presents. we take turns opening them. it makes the morning last a little longer and it makes each present feel that much more special. that was a great thing to start.
• one present is always a movie. when you get a thin little present, you know it's a dvd. you just don't know which one!
• we always drink egg nog from these four stemware glasses that mom has. they have holly around the center and they look delicious filled to the brim with cold egg nog.
• mom always makes us belgium waffles for breakfast. well it's usually about 10-11am by that time. we have it all together with peanut butter and syrup and a big glass of milk.
• for an early evening dinner mom always makes chicken fried steak with all the fixins. i know that doesn't sound like a traditional christmas dinner but we also do this in honor of our granna. it's a great thing to look forward to.
• we always, always go to the movies on christmas day. i'm not sure how that tradition got started, but it did and it's great. sometimes i hate being some of the people that cause the theater people to work on christmas day, but...i go anyway. it's a great tradition.
• we always have a jigsaw puzzle out to work on while everyone is in town for the holidays!
  
• the "big family" tradition is that we always have, at some point, christmas dinner and christmas at nanny and pawpaw's. it's so comforting. we usually all sit at the same places at the table every year. we use nanny's gold flatware. we have all of the yummy dinner stuff. when that's finished and the ladies have cleaned up, we move to the living room for presents. pawpaw always passes them out and everyone opens. we always draw names and buy one present for who's name we drew. (except that amy and i always get each other presents, that's our own tradition!). pawpaw and nanny get everyone a present and they always open all of their gifts last. someone reads the nativity story from the bible. in years past, uncle guy, uncle terry, and occasionally paw would play their guitars and sing (go donkey song!). my favorite thing: nanny's peanut butter balls covered in chocolate and these little cookies ( like the shape of a little cup) baked with a reese's peanut butter cup in it. yummo!

these are a few of our christmas traditions. i'm sure i left some out, but wow are they fun to remember. i know this year, and as the years bring new babies to our family, we will begin even more traditions. it's a wonderful feeling and i'm glad to be a part. i love christmas!