Christmas Traditions

Do you have holiday traditions that you look forward to and dread at the same time?

Our family has always had the tradition of taking a family photo for the Christmas cards. We can't just go to Olan Mills or use the photo that is in the annual church directory. This picture has to be creative, everyone must be smiling and happy, it helps to have a holiday theme... and most importantly it has to be good of Mom! We have done everything from pulling a sled down the beach while dressed in matching Christmas sweatshirts, to setting the self-timer on the camera and running to pose in front of the tree. As the kids get older and have lives of their own, it gets a little more difficult. We have broadened our time frame and now a 'family photo' that is taken any time within the year when we are all together will work.
The annual Christmas letter is another tradition that has been cut way back. I no longer go into details about trips, surgeries, job changes, or weight changes. I don't send them to a list of hundreds. Friends can now check out the blog for day-to-day updates. And...basically I have realized that our lives are just not that exciting.
Decorating for Christmas is another task I face with a crazed love/hate passion. I do love sitting by the fireplace enjoying the lights of the tree. Bill will agree that there is a period of mania that comes when the boxes first come out of the attic...and again in January~ but I refuse to think about that now.
The real Christmas tradition is the making of Christmas cookies. I don't mean the pretty sprinkled sugar cookies, the fun marshmallow fudge, or even the chunky fruit cookies. These are the cookies that are the obsession of a perfectionist desperate housewife.
And this is the weekend!
Y'all stay tuned!
Sandi