{christmas 2011
traditions & a linky party}

the first one is watching this movie on christmas eve:

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anyone know? it is only the absolute best christmas movie. ever. {psst. it is white christmas} on christmas eve, after candlelight service of course, you can almost always find me, my dad, husband, brother and sister-in-law sipping on rich hot chocolate and curled up on the couch singing every word to this christmas classic. this year we get to start teaching thomas the words to all the songs! i can’t wait until he is actually old enough to memorize them!

there is something magical about rosemary clooney’s voice and vera ellen’s mile long legs mixed with the buttery smooth vocals of bing and danny that just make me melt.

fun fact: did you know that the song white christmas was actually written for another movie? yup – irving berlin originally penned the words for holiday inn, also starring bing crosby and another famous fella, fred astaire. maybe you’ve heard of him?

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on christmas morning, i am always, always the first one up. i just can’t help it! i am always so excited for the day to start. i used to bounce out of bed around 5:30 but now i sleep in to a leisurely 6:30, 7 if i am up super late the night before.

we always open our santa presents first {yes, until my mom passed away santa still brought us at least one unwrapped present}. then my brother and i “played santa” and handed out the gifts to everyone. we all open them in turn and look at what everyone else got. our last gift is always our stocking gifts. there is always something so fun and surprising about sticking your hand in a sock and pulling out a trinket!

now that i am married, one of my favorite traditions to share with my husband’s family is their stocking tradition. it is one family’s responsibility every year to take all the stockings and fill them with fruit, candy, presents and other fun stuff. i was honored when they pulled out a stocking with my name on it. it meant i was really part of the family!

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one of my husband’s favorite christmas traditions is getting a chance to eat as many of his grandmother’s ginger snap cookies as he wants. we will be blessed with grammie’s gingersnaps again this year but just in case she won’t be able to make them next year, she entrusted me with the recipe for them. i haven’t made them yet but i really can’t wait to learn how!

is he not the cutest puppy dog ever??

finally, this year i am super excited to start some new traditions with this little guy! i can’t wait to see him grow up and start to get excited about christmas and make lots of new memories with him!

what are some of your favorite family christmas traditions?

here is a button for the party if you link up!

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