Wednesday, December 16, 2009

tradition. tradition!

tradition 011 i sent lucas to his cousins to borrow an egg. we had already started in on what is going to be our newly adopted holiday tradition. and the recipe called for one more egg.
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i am a sucker for tradition. i play christmas with strict rules.
a few:
-no christmas anything before december. (except egg nog. egg nog in november)
-no christmas music before the tree.
-only wrap gifts if you’re feeling extremely festive.
-watch prancer on christmas eve.
-must have hot chocolate in a mug before spying what santa has left.
-atleast one silver nordstrom box under the tree
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this is not my first holiday away from home.
andrey and i had our first christmas as newlyweds in our duplex.  i was so excited to “deck the halls” of our first house – so we went all out. we shoved a real evergreen into the back seat of andrey’s impala. i made gingerbread snowflakes complete with piped icing and silver dragees. we lit duraflames in our fireplace and i’m pretty sure i made andrey sing carols with me all. december. long. i clearly remember decorating the tree. andrey was wrapped up in lights – trying his best to drape them exactly how i wanted them. to the left! a little to the right!  i remember that i felt uber domestic and can recall thinking, “ok. he passes this test. he will be a good husband. we’re going to have a nice little life together – he lit my christmas tree.” we packed our suitcases and hauled the tree out to the curb days before christmas. i was going home to my parents’ and santa would be stuffing my stocking. only one christmas lesson for andrey at a time.
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i’m trying really hard to stick to my rules. i’m in charge this year. all on my own. we won’t be going to utah. my grandma didn’t make her yearly tri-city trek and amy’s pecan logs seem really really really far away. i’m finding that most traditions involve people that i love. like decorating the tree. i really miss my dad. every year. and we’ve somehow snuck by with this FAKE PRE-LIT thing this time around. it’s cheating. bad. i made enchiladas the other day. by myself for the first time. i wore an apron. we had ALOT of leftovers. enchiladas are usually feasted on with a giant table full of them and them. i ate mine on my bed while nursing gavin. i tried to get andrey to buy some slippers the other day. and a robe. “don’t you need these?” he looked at me funny. we’re playing santa this year. for reals – like the lucas jude boy has made requests and is counting down days. doesn’t andrey know he’s going to need a robe and slippers to do this???? he did learn the hot-chocolate-first-thing rule a few years back – but how did i forget the slippers part?
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i’m trying to make my own traditions. to help with the far away feeling.
so tonight we made cookies. sugar cookies. lucas was in charge – i stepped back and gave him full reign. he loved it. these cookies do not resemble snowflakes. not even close. they are smooshy, uneven and even a little burnt. they are adorable. and sooooo tasty. perfect.

tradition 002 tradition 001

i’m hoping for another year of the nativity performed by “the cousins” and some of danyelle’s cinnamon rolls for christmas morning. brunch down the street at jeff’s and hopefully – hopefully! santa will remember to fill my stocking.
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it’s feeling festive in this cozy house. it’s feeling fine. christmas can go ahead and come this year.

what’s your favorite holiday must-have???
we’re collecting traditions over here.

12 comments:

  1. gingerbread houses. I hand make the gingerbread for each house...so fun.

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  2. You need to continue the biscochito tradition! We have eaten so many of them over here already... Yum. =)

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  3. Lindsay, I love your words. Have I said that before? LOVE your words.

    For me, as well, all of our traditions are about family. We have a lot of them...

    + nutcracker
    + gingerbread houses
    + Christmas movies
    + going to look at lights
    + Christmas eve feast

    Thanks for sharing your traditions with us. I love you!

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  4. I absolutely love Christmas time. I hope this Christmas is everything you hoped it to be. With you not doing your yearly tradition of being with family, I can't wait to hear how this Christmas turns out for you. I love traditions too. We've done a few of ours, but there are a few of Jared's that we need to incorporate into our own little family's traditions. Why oh why do we only have 9 days left? I'm not ready yet...

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  5. i have to watch it's a wonderful life on a snowy night. i have to have a real christmas tree.

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  6. chris and i are trying to create christmas tradidtions together. so far its a skinny tree and peppermint bark.

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  7. traditions:
    *searching for the perfect "charlie brown" Christmas tree up in the mountains
    *painting ornaments
    *making fudge
    *christmas eve carols with homemade pipe chimes...so fun.

    just a few.

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  8. For the past three years I have indulged in gingerbread houses too. I love it. I even let Noah take over this year, and like you say, it's not perfect but it is SO PERFECT! I also LOVE listening to Christmas toons, singing badly, sneaking around buying gifts..

    How big is Lucas' beautiful smile? Those boys of yours, achingly beautiful. And with a beautiful mama to boot.

    Happy Christmas tootsie! xxx

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  9. I started wrapping my kitchen cupboards with beautiful Christmas wrapping paper- bows and all. They get covered the first week of December and usually come down around Feb...It makes my kitchen feel cozy and helps me remember to be festive. Also, if I'm baking, the Christmas music must be rockin' preferably Bing Crosby or Gene Autry. The classics. And the apron. There is something about Christmas that makes me feel domestic and I love it. Its part of MY being a woman.
    Stockings are my thing. Everything else can be a flop, but the stockings are the special part. This year I made Tally's and my husbands stockings- the same pattern that my ma used to make all 6 of her kids their individual special stockings. I'll be making another one next year for baby #2. I like all of your little 'nit picky' traditions. You've definitely created the Ideal.
    Merry Christmas!

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  10. christmas eve jammies, i'm hoping for a red sleeper with feets and a trap door!

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  11. I love your rules. Those are so great.

    I'm feeling the same Linny. I'm in charge this year too. We did peppermint bark yesterday. Noah loves the advent calendar. and I need more music.

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