December Memoirs: Happy Holidays!

December has always been a special time of year for me.  After all, I was born 4 days before Christmas and I came home from the hospital in a stocking instead of a blanket.

There are so many wonderful memories I have from this time of year.  Baking cookies with my mom, eating our traditional breakfast on Christmas morning, trying to figure out which gift belonged to which kid because my Grandpa always forgot to put our names on the outside!  (Side note--don't you love how all of the "old" pictures are all red!?)

















Of course, there was always a lot of gifts, food, and family fun too!  There was always a camera or two around to capture the moments.  Many of my pictures included me with some of my new books.  Yes, I have always been a "nerd" and I am very proud of that!  :)

It seems that Christmas time was always the time of year we had our "professional" pictures taken too.  Remember those backdrops that the photographer at K-Mart or J.C. Penney's always rolled down?  It looks like this one was our favorite.  Years apart, but the same background!

And, now, I get to help make our own traditions with my kids.  Since we haven't lived in the same town as our family, we haven't ever spent Christmas morning at our own house.  But, this year, we are going to do it!  The kids are getting older and I want to make sure they have some memories of just the 4 of us having some time together.  Of course, we will see other family members too, but the morning will be just OURS!

Another tradition we have is to have matching Christmas pajamas for the cousins.  I figured it was better than the underwear and socks I always received from my grandparents!  (There may have even been a tradition of which cousin could grab the others undies and throw them on the Christmas tree first).  These are from two different years and with different sides of the family.  I just can't believe how much the kids have grown up!  In fact, neither of my kids really wear pajamas anymore, but we will be continuing this tradition anyway!  (Or, if they have any complaints, they will start getting underwear!)

 I am so excited to get this holiday season under way.  I enjoy the extra time with family as well as the time to reflect on the year that has just ended.

I would love to hear about your December Memories!  How do you celebrate the holidays?  What traditions do you continue each year?

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