How do you celebrate Christmas at your home? My family and I have several old traditions – and a few that have been updated for 2020.
I have fond memories of baking and decorating cookies and gingerbread houses with my sisters. They now live far away and cannot come home for Christmas due to the pandemic, so my parents, my brother and I have made a few adjustments here at home. Instead of a gingerbread house, we will make Poptart houses! I plan to use fudge Poptarts for the walls to get the traditional brown walls and use cookies and cream for the roof to get the frosted and snowy look. We will decorate with the usual white icing and candies. Click here for details on how to make your own!
This year as we decorated the house, my dad played Christmas songs on the piano. It was so festive! We have a small Christmas tree, but large stockings, a Nativity scene, and an advent calendar. For as long as I can remember, my mom would tell the birth of Jesus as she carefully unwrapped each Nativity figure, and we would take turns placing each person and animal in the miniature stable on the fireplace mantel.
Another favorite decorating activity is the Advent calendar. My siblings and I used to take turns pulling out the next ornament and placing it on the Advent tree each day in December, but now I get to do them all! Mom reads a Bible verse that goes with each item. Another tradition started many years ago was drawing names for Christmas so we could spend all our saved money on one gift rather than split it among all our siblings. This year I shopped for gifts for my dog, plus one sibling, with my dad. Unlike my mom, my dad loves to shop as much as I do! I look forward to opening our presents on Christmas morning. We always open presents one at a time, with the youngest going first. I am the youngest, so I love that rule!
Christmas traditions are a great way to make a family feel like family. Even though I will miss my older sisters and their husbands on Christmas, I am thankful to spend Christmas at home with my mom and dad, my older brother, and my very favorite “four-legged sibling,” Scout!
Located in Alabama on Lake Martin, Camp ASCCA offers campers a wide variety of traditional recreational and educational activities with a unique design for accessibility.
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