Howdy Do to You and You! It's Me it's Me it's Ernest T.! (I couldn't resist ;)
No. Actually, it is Rachel. This post will be interesting because it ought to be something grand and glorious for the first post in this awe-inspiring month. But then, I think all the grand and gloriousness in our family has gone to Daniel who is doing a great job with the Advent posts.
In the first place, it took me awhile to figure out that it really was December. (I had to use that little rhyme that I've known since forever: 30 days hath September, April, June, and November, all the rest has 31, `cepting February alone, which has 28 rain or shine, and in leap-year 29!) Okay! So anyhow, our lovely December has started off perfectly (for this area) with a heavy frost! I love frost! It transforms the plainest thing into a thing of beauty! One of the prettiest sights I've seen is a blackberry vine and leave covered in frost. I would have frosted things like that all over my wedding cake if I could! (And if I was married in the fall!) You could probably do the same thing but with sugar instead of real frost. I think I heard of someone who wants to be married in the winter so that they can run outside after the ceremony, and have a snow-ball fight in their wedding dress! But I don't know why I went off on a wedding tangent! :)
December is probably my favorite month of the year in the sense of all that we do!
Advent has already been raptured over and you'd get tired of hearing me do that, so I think I will talk about a couple of our Christmas traditions maybe!?
Okay, but this has gotta be quick because I am working with Dad today and he wants to get out earlyish.
I start making and collecting presents early, as does Sarah, so the moment after the Christmas tree is put up, she and I have a mad dash to see who can wrap a present and have the dignity of putting the first present under the treee! (psst! Don't tell her but I'll prewrap mine this year and then get a head start! ;) Anyway, it is rather fun! Another cool tradition (At least to me) is that we set up our manger scene as a family. We kids and Dad bought her the Willow Tree set a couple years ago, so that has taken the presedence over a traditional set that she had had since she got married. (I am now asking for the old one for my hopechest for Christmas! :)
Mama sits on the couch and hands us the figures one at a time. We then carefully position them around a little creche that Daniel made for her. The Three Kings always are put the farthest they can be away from the creche, but I don't think it would take them 2 years to cross the table-top! The youngest of us, whoever that may have been that year, gets to put Baby Jesus up there. I always wanted to put the pretty angel with the blond hair and crimson dress up. Mary wasn't quite as pretty! ;) I had a weather eye for pretty things back then and still do! :) But I like Mary just the same!
Okay! Here's how it goes around her Christmas morning! We girls all wake up at around 4:30 or 5:00, too excited to go back to sleep, and since we haven't any cows to milk, we lay around hushing eachother until 5:45 or 6:00. Then we wake Daniel up and cart him out of his room. He lays on our bedroom floor blinking like a mole in the bright light while we all impatiently wait to open our stockings. So after his eyes are adjusted, he brings out his Bible, and reads us the Christmas story from Luke 2. Then we open our stocking and revel over them. But by and by we decide that we need to wake Mama and Dad up so that we can go downstairs to open gifts from under the tree. Well, it's a good thing we wake them up that early, because we must make their coffee, set up camera tripods, sort the presents into individual piles, and then we do the last day of Advent :( Last year Mama made us eat breakfast before presents! (I couldn't manage it!)
When it is finally time we go around, usually youngest to oldest, and we each open a present, one at a time. Doing this, this time can stretch to a couple hours! It's alot of fun though to watch others open your gifts you made or bought for them! Well, I better go get dressed for work! Hope this was fun! Do ya'll think we should temporarily switch over to a Christmas background?
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