Deck the Halls with December Traditions

There is nothing like decking the hall during for the Christmas season.  Did you know decking the halls with boughs of holly date back to ancient Romans times? Romans regarded the holly plant as good fortune and they would present newlyweds with wreaths made of Holly sprigs as a token of good will and congratulations. Decorating with holly boughs or evergreen sprigs today has more to do with the fragrance and appeal that fresh greenery adds to our homes during the holidays.

Like many of you, Christmas is really a big event around our house. The holy season invokes joy in each of us to the point of sheer giddiness. There is something totally magical about this time of the year. That being said, I thought this would be a good time to share with you some of our past and present traditions of December.

III. Displaying a variety of My Favorite Christmas Things like as my Dept. 56 New England village, Cherished Teddies, Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer figurines, and Fontanini Nativity.

IV. In Decembers past I read Christmas stories every night to the children at bedtime. They loved this!

V. Our weekly ritual for the entire month is to watch one of our favorite Christmas movies. Our first choice always on the list to see is Christmas Vacation. This flick is hilariously good!

 

VI. One of my beloved customs is the making of Christmas goodies – Chocolate Covered Cherries, White Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Balls, Almond Butter Crunch, Maple Nut Fudge, Cookie baking, and more.  Hallelujah! exclaim the troops at the Kennedy household.

 

 

VII.  Another time-treasured tradition for us is to listen to some of our favorites from long past and recent past Christmas music.  For me Christmas music and Andy Williams are synonyms. Do you remember the beautiful Christmas specials Andy Williams hosted?  This past September, heaven added another golden talent to the angels’ chorus when Mr. Williams crossed over.

Below is a compilation of YouTube videos featuring Andy Williams Christmas TV specials. Relive some retro magic watching these clips.

VIII. Speaking of music, another of our favorite age-old things to do is to sing Christmas carols. DH and I cuddled in the living room with our little rug-rats on the sofa bellowing songs from our Christmas carol song book. Of course, we always love singing carols in the car, too. Clark Griswold singing Deck the Halls always flashes in mind when we sing a tune or tune. 

IX. The grand daddy of all December traditions is Christmas dinner. I pull together things common from DH and my childhood Christmases into ours which we are passing to our kiddies. Nothing warms my heart like when our daughters request one of our family recipes. 

X. A very special custom for us is to read the Christmas story from the Bible. In the past, we’ve done this on Christmas Eve when the children were small and we gathered in our shared bedroom at DH’s parents, but in recent Christmases we saved the reading for Christmas night circled in the warmth of our living room around the soft colorful glow of our tree – what a peaceful moment that is!

 

 Thanks for visiting today. Today’s post is participating in Miss Jenny’s blog hop. Join me and the rest of the Alphabe-Thursday classroom for more homework assignments of the letter “D” and while you’re Fah-lah-lah-lahing around Blogosphere be sure to dash over to Miss Amanda’s for her latest edition of Thursday Two Questions.

Next post: Friday Sillies #57 – Christmas Humor Week 2