When I think back on Christmas' past, I can recall fond memories like visiting my grandparents in West Virginia and experiencing snow for the first time. Grandma Phillips would always have pepperoni rolls and popcorn balls waiting any and all who stopped by. She would also serve Broccoli and Cheese Casserole for dinner. When visiting my other grandparents a few hours away from my dad's parents, one would walk into the kitchen and see Granddad Nestor making his pies. He would make an Apple pie and a Cherry pie knowing that my mom loves cherry but hates apple and my dad loves apple but hates cherry. Grandma Nestor had the ribbon candy in a bowl on the coffee table in the living room. In our house, we would sit around the tree and each person would pick their favorite Christmas song and we would worship together as a family. Dad would read the Christmas Story from Luke and we would open one present from the grandparents before heading to bed.
Now that we are all grown up and have moved away from home, we've started new traditions while keeping old traditions. I've learned how to make spritz cookies from my mother-in-law and will be learning how to make anise braids in a couple of weeks. These are goodies that my husband grew up having in his home during the holidays. Keeping him from eating the spritz cookies that are stored in the freezer will be a challenge but a good one. Another tradition we kept is reading the Christmas story. A new tradition is the annual worship team Christmas party held at our house. We host the party the first weekend after Thanksgiving because the month of December can be very busy and chaotic. We always make a goody that people can take with them. One year it was homemade hot chocolate mixes in canning jars. Let's just say that that idea was never done again. This year instead of making cookies, we opted to do different desserts.
