December 3, 2007

The Family Tree.


This week we will be getting a tree for my parent's house.

This is my favorite Christmas tradition: Decorating the tree while listening to Christmas music and drinking eggnog.

If there were lots of snow on the ground, we would probably all bundle up and go cut one; pulling Ezra behind us in a cute little sled. But since there is no snow, a trip to Home Depot's tree lot might be in order. Although, Chris saw a sign the other day at a tree lot advertising trees for $199.00. {GASP!} A tree-cutting permit is only $10.00. So. Perhaps we should go cut one.

I'm so excited for Christmas this year, because Ezra is more like a human and less like a blob this time around. I think he gets it. I'm excited to start new traditions and teach him the traditions Chris and I grew up with.

Ezra and MoMar. Being cold.

I can't wait to pull out all the old ornaments and show him bits of my glittery past glued onto Popsicle sticks and etched into lacquered dough. I can't wait to watch him grasp the concept of hanging these history-drenched tokens onto the branches of the Christmas tree. There is something so beautiful about decorating the tree to me. Maybe it's because I'm a history-junkie, and those old shoe boxes full of ornaments are like priceless time capsules... you can just see the nostalgia rise up in everyone's eyes when they make their annual appearance.

I can see it now: The lower right hand portion of the tree will be crowded with ornaments. (That will be the part that Ezra painstakingly decorated.) And not one of us will dare to move a single ornament that he's placed upon the tree. Even if the finished product looks silly and unorganized and bottom-heavy.

And Ezra will be so proud.

This year, he knows that Christmas is Jesus' birthday. And when I told him that, his eyes got real big and he said, "Jesus birfday? Birfday Cake?"

So, I am thinking of making a birthday cake. For Jesus. It might say, "Happy 2041th-ish, Jesus!" (can you imagine all the candles?) and it just might become a new tradition.

I love to hear about quirky family traditions that are far from traditional. So, I am curious... Do you have any unconventional holiday rituals?


Yet another example of great minds thinking alike.
Jared and Ezra LOVE this marble run toy.

7 comments:

lorieloo said...

Some friends from church held an annual birthday party for Jesus. It was just an excuse for the adults to mingle and the kids to be entertained as well as be reminded of what we were really celebrating. They even managed to find a cheap, mini plastic nativity for the cake, you know instead of the 2041 candles.=)

Anonymous said...

I have heard of the birthday cake for jesus idea. I think you should go for it!
Our only weird tradition is a sea food meal either christmas eve or morning? WTF? I dunno why we just do it lol

Anonymous said...

Oooh is that the advent calender from Starbucks? I love Christmas. One of our traditions is tamales on Christmas Eve and watching Christmas movies while they cook. It's not much, but its ours. :-) Love the marble run! I always get frustrated and give up putting my sons together.

Miss
http://ruraandmiss.wordpress.com

misguidedmommy said...

i LOVE the birthday cake idea!

Anonymous said...

My family always opened up christmas jammies on christmas eve. We would all change into our new jammies and slippers and my mom would read us "The night before christmas". Joel and I still exchange christmas jammies on christmas eve. He loves it. I don't read him a story though. Probably because he is 30.

meg said...

new p.j.s
my gran started the tradition. now that i have my own family, I've kept it up...my husband hasn't quite gotten into the hang of it though, I've had to buy myself p.j.s every year ;)

littlebird said...

We always eat soup in bread bowls on Christmas Eve and then pile in the car and go check out the nearest "Candy Cane Lane" a.k.a. that one street in the neighborhood where everybody gets pretty crazy with the lights and decorations. Then we usually go to the midnight candlelight service!!!! :)Christmas makes me all shivery.