Christmas Traditions

Last year's tree was beautiful. We always put our tree up as a family...you know...together...all 7 of us. For three weeks, my son's girlfriend has told me how excited she was about putting up her Christmas tree. Every time I saw her she would remind me that it was almost time to put up her tree. The tradition at her house was to celebrate Thanksgiving and then in the evening put up the tree. The day after Thanksgiving I asked her how she enjoyed her tree trimming. She smiled just a little and said that her mom was too tired to put up the tree on Thanksgiving. Instead her mom did it while she was away at work. I could see the sadness in her eyes. I promised her that she could be part of our tree trimming experience this year. She smiled a huge smile and said she would really like that. We were going to put up our tree this past Sunday, but decided that we would all be free to do it Friday evening. We always have fun during tree trimming. Nothing is perfect, but it is fun none the less. This year I decided to add a little extra fun. I am going to make appetizers and bake sugar cookies. We always decorate sugar cookies together for Christmas, and we are going to do that on Friday after the tree is decorated. The kids are all already looking forward to the fun that will be shared on Friday. I am sure that our tree won't be perfect, but that has never mattered before so it won't matter again. What matters to me are the traditions of family that we build each and every year...together...as a family...you know, all seven (and sometimes 8) of us!!!

grace and peace,
julie