This Christmas Brings New Traditions

As Justin and I begin to enter into the first Christmas season that we will not be spending with our own parents on both Christmas eve and Christmas day, we are reminded of how our lives are changing. Although this change comes with the price of becoming busy beavers as we scurry from the coast of South Carolina to the middle of Georgia early Christmas morning, we can not help but be so thankful for having two wonderful families to be able to share such a special time with.

Growing up we have both experienced the holidays with our families and have been apart of the traditions our parents and grandparents have created. 

Of course every family celebrates different events in their own unique way. Christmas is no different. So as Justin and I were talking about putting up the Christmas decorations, we began to swap stories of the different traditions our families have started and stuck with over the years. We have some similar traditions, and some...not so similar, but one thing we are in full agreement on is: we LOVE real Christmas trees!

Both our families have always had live trees, so we decided we were not going to break that tradition! Another reason: I love the smell of them!

Our small tree, isn't it cute?!

After reflecting upon different traditions, we decided that we were going to start a tradition of our own. Since we will be decorating the house for Christmas together for the rest of our lives :), we decided that would be a nice time to start a tradition. Justin said his family, on Christmas eve, has finger foods, so that is what we decided to do for our "decorating" tradition. Since Justin will not be at his parents' house on Christmas Eve this year (sorry Mr. Tony and Mrs. Mona ;)) we thought we would play off of a tradition that his family had.

Our finger foods included: homemade apple cider, beanie wienies....

...sausage balls, fruit salad, Hillshire sausage, and chocolate covered pretzels! I promise, we had a lot of left overs! :)

After dinner, we tackled decorating around the house, mainly, the tree! :)

  Three strands of lights, 85 ornaments (including candy canes and our very special Niagara Falls ornament that Justin purchased just a few hours before he proposed!), and a golden angel later, we were in awe. All we could do was sit and stare at our tree for quite a while.  Although we are both in favor of hand crafted and homemade ornaments, especially when little ones start running around, we concluded that it is nice to have a tree where all of the ornaments match!  Now, all that is missing are little red bows! :)

I guess, since I've talked about some of Justin's traditions, I should talk about some things that make my family unique around Christmas time. The first decoration we always put up is the Nativity Scene.  This is my family's way of never getting too wrapped up in all of the hustle and bustle that comes along with the holiday season that we forget the true meaning of Christmas.

Also, since I grew up in a neighborhood, my family and I would always, after decorating and lighting the tree, would go out in the front yard and see how it looked from the road. It may sound silly, but it was a way for us, as a family, to admire our work and get excited about the upcoming events!

I love the traditions I have experienced with my family and I can't wait to be included in those of the Tyson family (I've already been introduced to the infamous Thanksgiving noodles! YUM!), but I am excited about growing with Justin and beginning to build traditions of our own! :)