Disappearing Christmas Tradition?

In my family, it has always been a Christmas tradition to tape all of the Christmas cards we receive around the kitchen doorway.  It’s like having a very colorful and festive garland around the door and I could look at the family photos that were included and remember fun times and pray for the families [...]

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Advent Calendar – Pass or Fail?

When the Advent Calendar “assignment” first came out, I was excited that I finally had a primer of basic questions to ask my Mom about her memories growing up!  We talked alot – in person and online – to see what she remembered.  Sometimes, there’d be days with no word from her as she was [...]

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Advent Calendar – Christmas Cookies

Christmas time has always been a great excuse to “pig out” and as long as I can remember, we did just that! My mother-in-law would begin making cookies weeks in advance with the help of her mother who would come to visit from the Boston area.  They made complicated cookies that required rolling pins or [...]

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Advent Calendar – Santa Claus

My parents are moving in a couple of weeks! (Great timing!)  I spent the week-end traveling to their house to help them pack and came home with a car filled to the rim with Christmas decorations that are being passed on.  Because of my week-end away, I’m a little behind on my posts. To help me [...]

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Advent Calendar – Christmas Cards

When I was growing up, we lived quite a distance from all of our family.  All of my parents’ immediate family lived in Indiana, while we lived in various towns in Minnesota, Indiana and Texas.  Because my parents each had a larger than “normal” number of siblings, we received a good number of Christmas Cards.  [...]

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Advent Calendar – Ornaments

The ornaments that were on the tree when I was growing up were mostly typical Christmas balls and other shaped glass ornaments.  But each year, we would go to a kiosk at the mall that offered dozens of flat, gold ornaments in various shapes.  My brother and I would each get to choose one that we [...]

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Advent Calendar – Holiday Foods

According to Mom, Christmas dinner when she was growing up including turkey “with all the regular trimmings”.  Each year, as Mom and I discuss what to have for our holiday meal, she remembers that Grandma used to make sweet potatoes by slicing them and then frying them in a big, black iron skillet.  She added [...]

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Advent Calendar – Oh Christmas Tree!

Because finances were tight, Christmas time was rough for Mom’s family while she was growing up.  But the kids never knew what they were missing because they’d never known anything else – and they were happy with that! 2 weeks before Christmas, Grandma would begin the search for the perfect tree.  Tree vendors may have [...]

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