Traditions Party!

It's time for our last party in the series from Marie at Emma Calls Me
Mama! Today's party celebrates traditions surrounding the Holidays.

(Sares, Cousin, Sister)

When I was little, we pretty much had the same routine around the
Christmas holidays. We would all load in the car and travel down the road
3 1/2 hours to my parents hometown. We would have Christmas with
both sides of the family, but we always stayed at my Mom's parent's house.
My Aunts, Uncles and Cousins all stayed there too. There would be 12-14
of us crammed into the little two bedroom house my Mom and her two
Sisters grew up in.

There were 5 of us little girls very close in age, so the gifts were usually
very similar. Each Christmas morning Santa would leave us a stuffed
animal or a doll, or both! They'd all be lined up in a row waiting for us to
wake up. My gift this particular year was the bear on the far left and
the doll behind it!

This is a picture of my Pappy and my Mom. At least I think it's my Mom!
Sometimes it's hard to tell because she has an identical twin sister and
they often look the same in old pictures. They are playing cards, another
favorite family tradition, usually played at every get together to this day!

If you'll notice all the red stockings, this was my favorite part! They had
our names spelled out on them in gold glitter on the front and were stuffed
to the gills with Christmas goodies of every shape and size! It was a the
Christmas jackpot, although they look empty here. It must have been
too early to stuff them or after the big opening.

Christmas morning and I'm surrounded by presents and wrapping paper
in my red nightgown. I still remember how silky soft it was.

You can't tell in any of these pictures, but one of the things I remember
most about a visit to Nana and Pappy's is that my Nana used to keep lots
of extra "housecoats" on pegs behind the spare room bedroom door. Every
morning, the Moms would grab one of these robes, usually ugly, no offense
Nana, and go and get their morning cup of coffee. Then a couple of them
would make their way to the porch with Pappy to have a morning ciggie.
Talk about family bonding time right!

My Cousin and I discovering our treasures, often we would have to open
the same gift at the same time so the surprise wouldn't be ruined, or
be very careful not to watch while your neighbor was tearing into
theirs. It could be dangerous, the surprise ruined. We still have to
do this on occasion. No kidding.

I'm in the purple Polo shirt smiling for the camera here.

We always had so much fun. We'd play games, later the Atari which even
the adults got in on, created skits, played with our Christmas gifts and spent
hours outside exploring the yard and nearby "creek" which was actually a
drainage ditch that ran down a hill! My Nana also had a neighbor named
Ann that we would always go and visit, she was very sweet to us.

All these traditions came together to make up the traditions I remember
as a child at Christmas. It was a special, magical time when all we had to
do was play. The only downfall...sharing one tiny bathroom with all
those people. Mornings could be torture waiting for my Pappy to come
out of the bathroom!!!

If you'd like to see more Holiday Traditions be sure to hop over to Emma
Calls Me Mama or feel free to join, it's not too late, she always has the Mr.
Linky button up the night before the party. All you have to do is post your
memories and traditions and add your link at her site and you're ready to go!

Thank s for joing me on my stroll down memory lane!