"it's the best time of the year..."

this past weekend I went to oklahoma. there is LOTS to tell about that--and I'll get to that soon--but I learned that my family has more traditions than I really realized. we celebrated Christmas early this weekend, y'see, so it's fresh in my mind and since maria is having a contest that encourages you to share just that--well, here I go...

I'll start with my very favorite of all. When I was a little girl my mom bought some "Twelve Days of Christmas" ornaments. Usually on Christmas Eve, or now whenever I am in town, we sing. We sing the WHOLE song. We make up the words, hang up the ornaments and away we go.

here's the 2006 list
and in 2008 there was no singing, as there was no tree up.
and this year, we didn't sing either, but we talked about singing and laughed about years past. and that was a'plenty for me :)

My family is SILLY. As Matt and I discussed yesterday, each of the members in my family has a STRONG personality and "takes up a lot of space in a room" so to speak. So sometimes it gets pretty ridiculous. If Anna had been there we definitely would've sung--it's just not the same without everyone there...

Anyway--this? This is absolutely going to be a tradition in Matt and my house when we have a family. We will sing, and we will hang the ornaments, and we will laugh together. And I must say, I'm really looking forward to that some day!