Christmas Traditions

Stockings and Stars

We started a tradition in our family many years ago when it came to the holidays. Yes there have always been the food traditions, like turkey, cranberry salad and all the "stuff" that goes with an unforgettable meal.....usually all crowded around a table bursting at the seams to hold everyone and everything. The other part: decorations, presents and the like have their own energy that have grown to be just a regular expected part of what we do. I have always been St. Nick and just loved Christmas, Santa and all the fun it posed. It was a time to jump from the worries of the world and be a kid again.  There is nothing better than being Santa and watching the kids open their presents on Christmas morning.

Not sure how it all started exactly, but I had decided to make the stockings hanging at the fireplace a bit more special and something just as exciting as all the presents under the tree.  After all it is hard to compete with big boxes and bows! Our kids were always allowed to get their stockings first thing in the morning and take them back to their beds and play until the second thing in the morning arrived. It wasn't always about the things inside it was more about the tradition of placing a new "pin" on the outside.  It has been fun for us to try and tie together a theme for the season. Initially it was us trying to just find a Christmas pin. There were times is was somewhat difficult so we began making our own. Ideas came from candy, toys, movies and whatever else fit the occasion. Currently there are so many pins from the years past that it takes a bit to find the new one.These recent years as the kids have got older we have been on the search to find matching stockings for the "new members". You know....the little kids eventually grow up and get married and we need to expand our tradition......I think soon, we will need to new fireplace or maybe a multi-level fireplace. It is harder and harder to impress.....Kids be ready for a supercharger stocking infusion that will be introduced soon....maybe not this year but soon!

The earliest part of our holiday tradition has evolved around the Christmas tree star. When we started it wasn't meant to be a planned thing or special thing it was because we didn't have much money. When we first made it to Allentown for our first Christmas we were pretty broke. I had just started work about 3 months before and the two boys were small. Our poor little Charlie Brown tree had a paper chain, and few hand-me-down ornaments from friends and a construction paper star glued to a cardboard toilet paper roll. Pretty simple.....but then we kept going.  Another star the next year and the next and the next.  There have been times when we finished the star on Christmas eve....oops...procrastination! Most all of the stars have survived all these years.....The one that didn't make it the one that tried to make look like a snow ball star from white packing peanuts......didn't survive. We have had a candy cane star, gingerbread man star, fabric pillow star, ceramic tile star, cardboard snowflake star, peppermint star, shooting star and when a few years ago was rough......a band aid star.....that Christmas hurt.  This year......a Buzz Lightyear Star! TO INFINITY AND BEYOND! Currently he is leaning WAY over. (falling with style).

Make your traditions and enjoy your family my friends!

That will always last!