Holiday Traditions

I love this time of year. It really is a wonderful season and it's so much fun to have an excuse to be more generous than normal without people wondering what you're up to. When I was growing up we really didn't have very many holiday traditions, really only one. We were usually in a financial pinch so we weren't able to do much, but we always found time to bake. Lots. We made about every kind of cookie you can think of and then we'd load them up onto disposable platters, wrap them with Suran and make our way through the neighborhood. When we started, we'd put the cookies on the doorstep, ring the bell and run! But as we got older, and lazier, we decided that it was okay for people to know who we were.

When I got married I adopted several of my husband's family traditions as well. Here are a few.
1. We always eat Cheesey Chicken Soup in homemade bread bowls and by candle light on Christmas Eve. Not sure why. It's really a heart attack nestled in baked goodness, which is why we only have it once a year. I have to admit, it's fun to do something that you know not many other people do. (If you want the recipe leave a comment and I'll give it to you - it's not hard to do and it's DELISH!)
2. The Christmas story is always read from Luke 2 that night as well. Not only that, we also dress up to play the parts. Jeff's family did this until the kids were teenagers and got a little silly and his mom decided that it wasn't as reverent as it should be. Emma wants to be Mary this year.
3. There's this GINORMOUS coloring book telling the "Twas the night before Christmas..." story that was given to his family before he was born by a relative that passed away shortly after. They always colored one page on Christmas Eve and then labeled who colored what. A couple of years ago Jeff's sister found uncolored copies of the same huge book from the same year (1972?) and gave one to each of the adult children so that we could all have the same tradition in our families. Thanks, Callie!
4. We like to teach our children that Christmas isn't about what they're going to get, its about what they can do to serve others. So we make sure that we get at least 2 or 3 names from the giving tree at church and we take them shopping with us to find gifts for people who are less fortunate than we are. It's good. Then they forget by the next year and we start over again. Except this year we've decided that we're going to ask them every day "What did you do to serve someone else today?" So far it's going well.

There are a lot more but I've already taken up my fair share of blogging space today. What are some of your traditions? Anything silly or goofy or touching or thought provoking?