tradition! tradition!

just a small sample.

I was raised to love Christmas from my dad. Sure, my mom definitely had a hand in it as well, but as long as I can remember, Christmas has been my dad's thing. He is renowned in this area for being a master of Christmas decorating. His lights rival that of anybody's around the neighborhood. But it's the inside of the house that's where the magic happens. Over 250 Santa's reside inside our house at Christmas. They're on shelves, tables, trees, stockings... you name it, there's a Santa. This collection has been growing larger every year since I was a little child. But I'm not going to talk to you about Santa today, no, that deserves a far more important post later this week. What I have to say about Christmas this day, is about tradition.

What a wonderful time of year! It seems that the main goal of this month is to find happiness. To be filled with joy. And the best ways we know how to do this remain the same, which I think is why traditions are formed. If it isn't broken, why fix it, right?

Some of my favorite Christmas traditions involve the suspense of the whole day. My family is notorious for dragging it out. Never in my life have I woken up early in the morning, run to the tree, and thrown myself to the task of opening presents. No. That is not how we do things. We all wake up around seven or eight-ish in the morning. At that time, my dad starts our big Christmas breakfast, and us kids have to make sure that our rooms are nice and clean. No way are we getting anywhere near breakfast or the desired Christmas tree if our rooms are not clean. When that is completed, my brother and sisters and I often find ourselves waiting on the stairs, begging our parents, "please please please can we come up? Can we eat breakfast? when can we see the tree!?"

My parents finally allow us to come up the stairs, blocking our view of the tree until we sit down. Yes, we are not even allowed to see the tree or presents until we have eaten. When I was little this was almost too much for me. The excitement of the day still almost takes my appetite away, and I remember impatiently waiting at the table for Mom and Dad to take their last bite, just so we could please move on with the day.

Oh, but don't worry, we still have to do the dishes before we can get to presents. No messes allowed on Christmas!

After all this is done, we line up, youngest to oldest, and when Dad says go, we get to run into the living room to see what Santa has brought.

And it is always, always, just as magical as I hoped the night before, struggling to fall asleep.

What are some of your Christmas traditions?

p.s. Ozzy totally should have won survivor.