Merry Christmas!

The best part of Christmas are the traditions. When I come home I sleep in the same room, in the same bed, as when I was a kid. And I reread all the books I read as a kid, just to make sure they're the same. They normally are. I get less sleep at home than I do at school, because there's so much to read.

The music is a tradition. We listen to the same 5 records, all day long, that we listen to every year, on the same record player. The record player can play 3 records in a row, and then the records have to be flipped. I love it.

We always hike way up the hill looking for the perfect Christmas tree, and end up getting the one closest to the house. We cut it down and drag it down the hill into the basement, and leave it there overnight to let the snow melt off it. Then Sunday we decorate the tree with all the random ornaments that have survived over the years.

I love that we open presents on Christmas Eve, after dinner and getting everyone settled and reading Luke's account of Christ's birth. The kids pass out the presents and we open them one at a time from youngest to oldest. If extended family are visiting, this can take some time. After each gift, the reciever must get up and give the gift giver a thank-you hug.

Another treasured tradition is the making and consuming of klub (a Norweigen dish made out of potatoes). This year I was allowed to make klub all by myself, and I felt so grown up. We eat klub for breakfast, lunch, or dinner on special occasions throughout the year. Yum!

Christmas morning we open stockings. Each of us gets a few pieces of fruit, and we combine everything to make a terrific fruit salad for Christmas dinner.

Christmas afternoon we go play outside in the snow - snowshoeing, skiing, skating, hockey, sledding, etc. Then it's back inside to help get Christmas dinner ready.

Favorite traditions that don't happen every year:
When we go to Grandma Marshall's house, on Christmas afternoon we all sit in a circle, each holding a small package. We read the Night Before Christmas poem, and pass the package one person to the left every time the word 'the' is read. When the poem is finished, we can open the package we're holding. The best part about this is trying to figure out what is in each package and what the odds are of ending up with that gift.

When I was little, Grandma Childs would make up a bag for each of the grandchildren that contained 12 small gifts (a comb, stickers, an ornament, etc.). We could open one gift on each of the twelve days of Christmas. That was so exciting!

And, of course, the best tradition of all: being with family! The rest doesn't matter if we're not together. Merry Christmas, everyone!