Traditions

I know every family has their own special traditions during the holidays. We wanted to share some of our traditions with all of you.

Our traditions begin the day after Thanksgiving. We start to decorate our home with holiday decorations. I remember when I was young how our home was transposed into a winter wonderland so I have tried make our home a magical place.

We also go pick out our Christmas Tree. Rob won't let us result to a fake tree so REAL it is. I hate the cost but love the smell.

We have done the 12 days of Christmas for someone when we have been in the position to do so. The kids enjoyed being Secret Santas this year.

We build and decorate a gingerbread house.

When I was a young girl I looked forward to a special tin that came from my Grandma Stucki. It contained homemade candy. It was filled with Almond Roca, Peanut Brittle, Toffee, Almond Joys, Peanut Butter Cups, Divinity, Penuche, Turtles, Carmel, and chocolate covered pretzels. We would also receive a Candy Roll with Riceballs, Popcorn Balls and Gingerbread Cookies. My mom continues this tradition today. I am learning how to make this special candy so this tradition will continue to stay alive for generations to come. Making candy is very temperamental. It takes a great deal of time and patience. Homemade candy is indeed a special treat.

I fondly remember spending time as a family in the kitchen baking goodies for our neighbors and friends. We have tried to keep this tradition alive but are realizing that it is starting to become overwhelming. I have a year to figure out how to keep this tradition alive but stay sane in the process.

We make a special trip to see Santa.

On Christmas Eve we each get to open a gift. Everyone receives a new pair of pajamas. We read the Christmas story out of the Bible. We also prepare a special plate of goodies for Santa.

In Rob's family they have a special breakfast on Christmas Day. It includes a sausage casserole, sausage, bacon, eggs, crepes, fruit, eggnog, and juice. Since we can't be with them during the holidays we have a condensed version of Christmas breakfast with bacon, eggs, crepes and eggnog.

O Christmas Tree

Our Christmas Tree tells a story. Each ornament comes with a special memory.

When we were first married we made our Christmas tree decorations since we were very poor. We made a paper chain and salt dough ornaments. They are still used today since our pockets always seem to be pinched.



Every year the "UGLY SNOWMAN" comes out of our Christmas box. Rob specifically puts this ornament out in plain view. In the past I have tried to move it but Rob always manages to move it to the front of the tree for all to see. Rob painted this particular snowman. I personally wanted to throw this snowman away. To me he didn't look like a typical snowman. He was different. I know that shouldn't matter. Each snowman is supposed to be special and unique. So, for this reason he still exists and has become a permanent part of Christmas at the Anderson house.



Decorating the tree always gets us into the holiday spirit.

Thankful Tree

It all started with a talk. The question was asked, "What is the best season of life?" An experiment was conducted. Several age groups were asked to stand up only to discover that each age group was at the perfect age.

How often do we let each day pass without experiencing the joy we are here to experience. "Adam fell that men might be and men are that they might have joy." How often do we wish time would pass in hopes that life may in some way be more enjoyable down the road. What kind of message do we send our kids about how we live our lives. Is adulthood enjoyable? In short, are we taking advantage of every minute, finding joy in the now?

This was a huge wake up call for me. This is the time for ME to really enjoy. I need to change my attitude. Too often I get down because I can't keep up with life. My to-do list gets larger instead of smaller. I seem to focus on the things I don't get done instead of the things I do. Too often I leave off the daily tasks I do on a regular basis forgetting that they were on my to do list even though they weren't visible. I should celebrate what I have accomplished instead of what I haven't. I need to remind myself to celebrate at the end of the day when I FINALLY schedule a dentist appointment for myself to get my teeth cleaned.

Instead of becoming irritated when Ty decides to wake up at 4:00 in the morning I can be excited to get a jump start on the day and spend some quality time with him. I can get upset when our car decides to break down costing us a fortune that we don't have or be grateful that it can be fixed. We will still be able to get where we need to be. We have a car and are fortunate to have this luxury. In short, I need to be grateful for this experience. I need to enjoy the ride, the good and the bad. I need to have an attitude of gratitude. What a way to start the month of November.

In order to focus on our blessings we made a thankful tree (an idea we got from church). We gathered sticks for family home evening and made leaves. Each leaf has a blessing we are grateful for. The kids thoroughly enjoyed this activity. It might have something to do with gathering sticks and actually keeping them in the house. Tasha even shared this activity at Share Day in school.



Below you will find a list of our blessings in no particular order. Instead of focusing on our blessings the day of Thanksgiving (which, unfortunately, tends to be the case). I was truly able to focus on our blessings every day this month. The tree was a great reminder to all of us that we are truly blessed. It ended up being a long list (thankfully). Click on the picture below to read.