HOLIDAY TRADITIONS

I love having holiday traditions. As a child, I celebrated Chanukah, and we certainly had our share of traditions during those 8 days and nights. We’d light the Menorah, sing songs (with the dog howling in the background) and exchange gifts, always with our “big” gift saved for last.

But there’s nothing like forming our own traditions as a family with my own children and husband. (Okay, I have to admit, the Menorah has been replaced by the Christmas Tree and the Dreidel songs have been replaced by Christmas Carols and, well, you get the picture!) I mean, Chanukah was fun, but it wasn’t ANYTHING like Santa and the anticipation of Christmas morning, you know? (Just a note to my Jewish family – it’s all done in fun, nothing religious about it in this household!)

So we have the usual customs of tracking Santa’s sleigh on Google Maps (well, maybe that one’s not so usual!) and putting cookies and milk out for the big guy. Then rushing to put everything under the tree and in the stockings after they fall asleep (luckily, we are blessed with 2 very heavy sleepers, so we never have to worry about them waking up!), eating the cookies and milk, and then falling into bed ourselves, exhausted. Only to be woken up at the crack of dawn so the boys can run downstairs to see what they got!

But the one REALLY special family tradition we have is to take a horse drawn carriage ride through a beautiful light display called Winter Wonderland. It’s freezing cold, but we dress warmly and they have blankets for us, and we all snuggle together and look at the lights while we listen to the clip-clop of the horse’s hooves.

***Sigh*** Pure Magic!

So please share with us, what are your holiday traditions?

Karen