Traditions

That's the way we have always done it!  You might say our family is very tradition-oriented.  Particularly when it comes to Christmas.

Both of my parents brought traditions to our family.  Mother remembers "stockings" and daddy remembered that his parents (along with his aunt and uncle) waited until Christmas Eve to purchase presents.  That's when everything was marked down and his daddy was always one for a bargain.  We always had a stocking and daddy loved the hustle and bustle of shopping on Christmas Eve.

I remember that our daddy preferred cheese and crackers and Coca-cola to cookies and hot chocolate so that's what we left for Santa (the first year after daddy had died, I took Cheezits and scattered them on his grave) and that we always had some presents on a chair and some presents were wrapped. 

I carried that last tradition into my family - and one of my favorite memories is the year that they thought they should be my Santa Claus and I awakened to a chair filled with gifts and notes. 

And now my children are all parents and have their own traditions.  Whether it is leaving a little reindeer food near their front door; having close friends in for Christmas breakfast, or a visit from Santa Claus who is also their granddaddy (one of these days some of those England kids are going to figure this one out), they all have their own traditions.  And for the grandchildren here - the tradition is that sometime on Christmas morning, grandma and great gran'ma come to see their gifts.

The most important tradition is something that we all share.  We all worship on Christmas Eve - maybe to different churches - but we all remember what Christmas is about.

This picture is from a live Nativity scene at
Spring Glen Methodist Church (copied from
their Facebook page).

Spring Glen Methodist is an important place to our family because our great-grandfather, John Huffingham deeded some of his land for a school and church - the very land where Spring Glen continues to stand as a beacon for that community.  It was at Spring Glen that my parents met in about 1929.  And when my children were growing up, we often walked up to the corner and enjoyed the live Nativity there

It was truly one of our traditions.  I drove by Spring Glen last night and was filled with a sense of gratitude for that church and what it has meant in our lives.

Christmas traditions are great - decorations, Christmas cookies, lights, parties - but the best part of Christmas - the one I am more grateful that my children honor - is the fact that it is about the birth of Jesus Christ.

It was also a tradition (when I was a little girl) for me (with my cousins Ellie and Jimmy) to stand in front of our Nesmith family and recite the first 20 verses of Luke 2.  I will not bore you with that...even though I think I could - almost word for word.  Just another family tradition that I hold very dear.

You will not be surprised which verses are my favorite .... "And they came with ^ahaste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child," Luke 2:16,17. 

I do love a good story and I love to Tell It!