Childhood Traditions

There weren't a lot of traditions in my house as I grew up. We always hung our stockings up and left out cookies and milk for Santa. Don't worry, we didn't forget out the carrot for Rudolph. I remember my mother working on Christmas a fair bit. In the mornings, we were allowed to open our stockings, but had to leave the other gifts for when my mom got home.

One of my most favourite parts of the holiday season was driving around with my parents looking at the houses that were decorated to the nines. They used to print the best houses in the paper for the Christmas light tour. A couple of the houses were interactive where you could get out and go in the backyard, have a cup of apple cider, and there was even one with a Santa.

Also, later in life, I liked wrapping presents with my mother and sister. Patricia would sit on one side of the bed, me on the other and my mom across from me. Each of us would have a different person's gifts to wrap. There was something hectic and awesome about that evening. Something I really enjoyed.

On Christmas Eve we'd have macaroni and cheese, my mom used Cheese Whiz and would cut up canned meat in it. That might be weird to hear coming from my vegan fingertips, but I loved it. And there was always a big dinner on Christmas. I suppose my mom's stuffing is a great way to end this blog. It's the same stuffing I still make. Of course, I don't stuff it in a turkey's butt. Neither does my mom! Still one of the things I look forward to about the holiday.