i stumbled on this photo a few months ago and experienced a flood of wonderful memories. pictured are my grandma and grandpa farmer in the basement of their economy, indiana home preparing stockings for the annual christmas eve family get-together. parents of 4 children, 17 grandchildren and more great grandkids than i can count, they hung a stocking for every family member plus a few strays who wandered in with the grandkids. each stocking was filled with a bit of candy and fruit plus at least one very practical item like gloves or socks. this photo was extra special since grandma and grandpa were celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary that year -- on christmas eve!! some of my favorite memories of christmas eve at their house are the boxes of toffee, the silver christmas tree with the revolving multi-colored light, getting to hold all the new babies that had been born that year and especially the ride home after the big night, singing christmas carols and basking in the warm glow of family love.
for all of my adult christmases, i've continued the christmas stocking tradition. but this year i decided to shake things up and do what i'm calling christmas take out boxes. they are fun and cute and easier to handle than the bulky stockings (i have nowhere to hang stockings!). the biggest downside so far is how little you can fit in each box!
last year i started a few new christmas eve traditions. we played a christmas trivia game that i researched on the internet and then typed up plus a homemade christmas bingo game i made. it was fun with lots of dorky prizes to be won!
what are your favorite christmas traditions?
