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Celebrating the Joy of Living & Home Making ~

Baking, Cooking, Decorating, Tea Time, and taking Inspiration from those I love and the world around me...

A sharing of my heart and my home from a Christian perspective

...with a wee bit of whimsy added.

Friday 16 October 2009

"Traditions Holiday Party"


Hello everyone~ Today I am joining Marie at 'Emma Calls Me Mama' for her Traditions party. I have the hot apple cider and the gingerbread waiting just for you. So come on in and have a seat. My favourite holiday of all is Christmas! I have loved it ever since I can remember. I love everything about it; the decorating, the food, the music, buying presents, the Christmas cards, etc...the whole package. Most of all, I love the reason why we celebrate it and without Him, there would be no celebration at all!
I'm sorry I don't have many pictures to share as they are all at my mother's. But I will share what I can.
My parents, especially my Daddy, always made the holidays magical. My father was like a little kid himself at Christmastime, and my brother and I always looked forward to it. It was indeed the happiest time of the year in our household.
I remember every December first, just like clock-work, my brother and I became little angels! You couldn't see our halos, but we were little angels! You couldn't pay us to fight because we were so certain that Santa would not come if we acted up! Late Christmas Eve and into the wee hours of the morning, my brother and I would take turns sneaking into my parents' room, begging them to get up because it was Christmas morning. About five AM, my poor weary parents would drag themselves out of bed to make two little kids very happy! It was the only time we were ever allowed to do such a thing!


My parents decorated our home from top to bottom with lights and tinsel and ornaments. Wreaths were hung in every window and every year, they brought out the Rudolph which Daddy had made.
Rudolph was made out of wood with bright coloured lights along the stand on which he stood. He even had a red light bulb for a nose. Daddy had cut the reindeer out and my mother had painted him. Rudolph had the place of honour every year in the big front window of every house we ever lived in. My parents were both very artistic.

We always had the prettiest Christmas tree! And it smelled so lovely! It was a real tree of course, in those days. When we visited other people's homes, I always took notice of the tree and I always believed ours was the prettiest. Decorating the tree was my mother's project and she made it her work of art. I learned at a very young age to be fussy when decorating the tree. It had to be perfect!!
I have so many special memories of Christmas stockings bulging with brightly coloured barley toys, candy canes, the real ones in red and white, ribbon candy, and home made brown sugar fudge. There was always a huge shiny red delicious apple and mega oranges. They went all out at Christmastime!
I think my favourite Christmas memory when I was young, was when I was about six or seven, the year my parents surprised us with a puppy, we named Jingles. I wish I had a picture to share with you, but I don't. He was a pure bread Cocker spaniel white and blond pup, and he was simply adorable!
Daddy had built a wonderful dog house and when we got up Christmas morning, to our delight, was this darling puppy with freckles on his nose. As soon as we calmed down and the puppy wasn't so nervous, Jingles allowed us to pet him. He really was the cutest thing with his little bitty tail and long wavy ears! My brother and I just adored him! My mother never cared much for the dog, probably because she had to wipe up too many puddles that Jingles left in his path!

Another favourite memory is after we had our big Christmas dinner, they always showed Walt Disney cartoons on TV. Daddy used to get right down on the floor with my brother and me and watched the cartoons with us. He got as much of a kick out of them as we kids did! I just loved watching Tinkerbell and Chip and Dale. Snow White and Lady and the Tramp were my favourites.

Every year, I sang in the Christmas concerts and took part in the play if there was one. I loved to sing and did every chance I got. I adored Christmas carols and I always looked forward to receiving the bag of fudge after the concert was over!



I remember my mother making sugar cookies cut out in Christmas shapes and she would tint the dough pink and green; very festive! She also made wonderful scotch cookies decorated with icing and red and green cherries. Also for Christmas, she made Saucepan cookies, you know those little balls made with Rice Krispies, dates, and nuts that were rolled in coconut? Mincemeat pies were another favourite that time of year. There was her home made fruit cake too; dark and light. Every Christmas dinner offered up Plum Pudding with real whipped cream. Mmmmm! My brother and I stogged ourselves so much on Christmas desserts that we were almost always uncomfortable afterwards.

Today, I have my own traditions which I started when my boys were young. We usually drove around looking at the Christmas lights on Christmas Eve after the service. Christmas morning, we always had prayer and read the Christmas story from Luke 2. Then the boys were allowed to look in their stockings. We never had a real tree, just an artificial but it was lovely to pull it out of its box every year and spend time making it a thing of beauty. We used that same tree all the years my boys were growing up, so it holds lots of wonderful memories. Could that tree ever tell some stories!
The tree usually went up the last week in November and the music was always playing.
I left the tree up until after New Years Day; still do.
This is my family sitting around the table, all but one DIL who is taking the picture, and my newest grandchild Zachary, are in the photo. My son Jeff is looking directly at the camera and his eyes make him look like he is from outer space or something.
Like my mother, I bake the fruit cakes and other things that she used to make. I also make pate, the savory meat pies made with chicken, beef, and pork.

I love to decorate too; pretty much every room in the house. I take special care to decorate the tree, a habit passed down to me from my Mum.

I like to take something old and create something new out of it; a wreath or centerpiece. Last year, I took one of my Rose Chintz teacups and put a miniature tree in it. Makes a very cute Christmas decoration.
I cannot tell you which Christmas carol is my favourite because I love them all. Most of them hold a special meaning for me. Church was a very big part of my life while growing up, and it still is. The Bethlehem story always held a special place in my heart, as it does today. There wouldn't be a Christmas without a Saviour!

I am so glad you dropped by and I hope you will visit Marie and all the other participants at http://emmacallsmemama.com/
I also have a Christmas blog called "Christmas Pudding" if you care to stop by there sometime. http://christmaspudding09.blogspot.com/

Sharing from my heart~ Sandi

16 comments :

  1. Hi Sandi,
    What a beautiful post. So many very special memories. Christmas is my most favoritest holiday too. I look forward to it every year. I love everything about it. Thank you for sharing such special stories and memories with us...now, I am in the mood for Christmas...can't wait. Hope you have a wonderful weekend.

    Blessings,
    ♥Ana

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  2. Beautiful Christmas memories. Thank you for sharing with us.

    Blessings and prayers, andrea

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  3. I so enjoyed reading about your Christmas' growing up. Thanks for sharing. I am starting to get in the mood. I may have to dig out my christmas cds! I usually do start playing them sometime in oct.
    Blessings Always!
    Gwen

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  4. Praise Him! What a beautiful family you have. I like your tradition of driving around after Christmas Eve service to look at the lights. We might have to steal that one from you. God bless you and your family. Merry Christmas!

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  5. Such lovely Christmas memories! Your tree is gorgeous, and I like the miniature one in the teacup, too.

    Jane

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  6. i love the snow on your blog - very cool :D

    love your animated tink (obviously) :D

    great stories! thanks for visiting my blog too :D

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  7. Hi Sandi,
    I enjoyed reading about your Christmas memories and traditions.Oh! it won't be long before those Christmas bells are ringing again.
    Is it just me or does it seem like fall is marching on? It was cold last night!
    Take care,
    Carolyn

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  8. What beautiful memories of Christmastime! I am so happy you and your brother and parents had such happy, storybook holidays! Now I am off to search more about these interesting barley candy toys you mentioned!

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  9. It sounds like you have lots of wonderful Christmas memories. I love the story about little Jingles. We had a spaniel growing up too, until he unfortunately got hit by a car. My Mom is always very particular about the tree as well. We always had a real one, but have since reverted to the good old "fake" tree so we can put it up after Thanksgiving and leave it up until after new years. I love to enjoy it for as long as possible. Thank you for sharing your special memories, it was a beautiful post full of loving memories!

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  10. I enjoyed reading your holiday traditions. Thank you for sharing....and also for visiting our site.

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  11. Sandi, thank you so much for sharing such a heart-warming post. I love the traditions you started with your family and think reading from the Bible is a beautiful one to share with my own family.

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  12. Hi Sandi! Beautiful room with all the soft lighting! How can Christmas not be anyone's favorite holiday (unless they're not Christian)!

    Oh, by the way, I posted a comparison between your cute little birdhouses and my house/barn today. Check it out!

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  13. Great Christmas Memory Post, Thanks for sharing .8~)
    ~Myrna Lee
    http://daylily777-myenchantedhome.blogspot.com/

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  14. Christmas season sure gives you that overwhelming feeling. And somehow, I feel like people are much more nicer. I don't know why. It's kind of inevitable not to be one during the season LOL. Now if only it spreads throughout the year.

    You have such sweet memories of family and the activities you did. It's nice to have such memories and then continue on passing them to your own family and future generations.

    Mizpah,
    Li

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  15. Hello thank you so much for visiting me this pink Saturday and your lovely comments on Destiny. She had so much fun participating. Wishing you a wonderful weekend.

    Blessings,
    Heidi

    Happy Pink Saturday

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  16. Hello Sandi - thank you for sharing such wonderful Christmas memories! I especially like the tradition of watching Disney movies together! Love the photo of your family at the table.

    Thank you for joining me for the party!

    Blessings,
    Marie
    http://emmacallsmemama.com

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I am delighted to have you visit me and I read every comment. Please forgive me for not being able to visit you all as there are so many of you lovely bloggy friends now. I will visit as much as possible. I wish you a day filled with JOY!

Also, due to the amount of spam I've been getting, I have had to set Comment Moderation. ~ Sandi

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