Favorite Christmas Traditions:

Here is a top ten list of my favorite Christmas traditions: (In no particular)

•PUTTING THE DECORATIONS UP: Every year, we put the decorations up sometime during Thanksgiving week. The exact date depends on whether we are going anywhere or hosting family. We drag up the tree. Melissa decorates the rest of the house. I am relegated to putting up our Christmas village, which has turned into Emily’s little play village. There is no sense in even trying to ‘hide’ the wires running from house to house with fake cotton snow. Emily turns a peaceful village scene into a full-blown blizzard / war zone. I say war zone because there has been multiple be-headings and dismemberments over this holiday season.
•EATING AT MAGGIANO’S WITH MELISSA’S FAMILY: For the past few years, usually the day after Christmas, Melissa’s parents take the whole family to an upscale family style Italian restaurant called Maggiano’s. We have a great time pigging out on delicious foods… spaghetti with humongous meatballs, Italian chicken entrées, appetizers, and desserts. We get done feeling very full. My brother in law, Kevin, and I would tell you that this place serves up “a spicy meatballe.” (done in our best Italian accent…)
•CHRISTMAS AT GRANDMA & GRANDPA SANDS: I could talk about this one for a long time, but I’ll stick with the basics: Grandma makes the same types of foods every year: Cheesy Potato Soup and Oyster Stew. (Yes, I eat the Oyster stew… and don’t say anything until you’ve tried it… you don’t have to actually eat the Oysters if you don’t want to.) We always have stockings to open up. We always open presents one at a time starting from the youngest to the oldest. We used to meet every Christmas Eve… but this has started to float around to a date either a few days before or after Christmas.
•DRIVING TO CHICAGO ON CHRISTMAS DAY: Every year since we’ve been married, Melissa and I have spent Christmas Eve with my parents and then traveled three hours to Chicago to spend as much of Christmas Day as we can with her parents. I have actually come to really enjoy the drive. It’s not too long, the traffic is non-existent, and it's just a nice ride with the family. We put in Christmas tunes and there is usually a beautiful landscape covered with snow in Northern Illinois.
•CHRISTMAS AT GRANDMA MILLER’S (HARKER): About two days before Christmas, all the relatives on my mom’s side of the family get together to celebrate Christmas. We order Slugger’s and Happy Joe’s pizza… I’m a big fan of both. The cousins play the old Super Nintendo… usually Mario Kart. We do a gift exchange. We take lots of pictures at the end. Some pictures probably don’t turn out exactly the way Grandma intended thanks to some practical jokers. (I won’t name names… but it’s NEVER me.)
•CHRISTMAS AT MELISSA’S PARENTS: We usually arrive a little before noon on Christmas day at Melissa’s parents and typically we start opening presents very soon after we get settled. One thing I have always appreciated is that my father-in-law, Jim, will always start by reading one of the advent passages and praying before the presents are opened. Our attention is always directed back towards Immanuel in the Wright household on Christmas morning.
•CHRISTMAS AT MY PARENT’S: Over the past few years, we have started celebrating Christmas with my parents on Christmas Eve. Usually, we’ll have just come home from Christmas Eve service at Heritage… and we’ll start opening presents with Mom, Dad, and Jeff. We always have a great time with each other… and it has gotten even more fun recently because Emily is so stinkin’ funny. Mom always has her house decorated so great during Christmas… and it’s always a joy to spend part of Christmas break there.
•CHRISTMAS EVE SERVICE: For as long as I can remember, I have attended the Christmas Eve service at my home church, Heritage Wesleyan. I usually leave very moved because they do such a good job at bringing the mystery and majesty back into the incarnation. It is always a very beautiful service. It’s really the one time each year that I can reconnect with old friends from Heritage.
•A VISIT TO THE MOVIES: For the past four or five years, my brother-in-law, Kevin, and I will pick one movie that we both really want to see that is opening right around Christmas. We usually go see it a day or two after Christmas. Last year it was Ocean’s 12; The year before that: Return of the King; And the year before that: The Two Towers. This year it was going to be Narnia… but Kevin was forced into seeing it with some friends. So, we’ve changed plans: and we’re going to see another Peter Jackson movie: King Kong.
•NEW YEAR’S EVE AT MY PARENT’S: A tradition that I will not get to participate in this year due to how the holiday falls during the week. I will miss it. We usually get together with family and play cards, games, Nintendo… eat a lot of food… watch some football or basketball… and drink sparkling white grape juice at the crack of midnight to celebrate a new year. Very fun!

What are some of your favorite traditions?