a guardian of christmas traditions

We all have one food or drink that we tend to grab when we need a little punch of creativity... for me, its carbonated water. oh yes. Carbonated water or sparkling water (it sounds more fun) has been a part of my life since I was a wee-little-one. My friends think its disgusting, which I am appalled by. It's just water, on steroids! How could you deny bubbly water? Anyways, the point to this all is that tonight is one of those nights I needed help with my "creative-ness." So please... bear with me as I sip on my tangerine flavored sparkling water and try to make some sense of Christmas traditions. 

We are officially two weeks away from Christmas... It's time to finish our shopping, wrap those presents, and start checking off the Christmas traditions off of your imaginary Christmas traditions list. (Unless of course it's a Christmas tradition to have a "Christmas tradition list" in which you physically mark off your Christmas traditions as they are completed, then please, check off your Christmas traditions.) 

Recently in my Senior Bible class we took a survey. This survey gave us four words that described our lives as a whole... Now that's a pretty huge role to take on... to describe our lives in four words. What. I was very skeptical as I answered each question... 

"Do you like being in big groups of people?" 

Yes. 

"Would you rather stay at home and read a book or go out with friends?" 

DEFINITELY the latter. 

"Do you frequently enjoy spending long periods of time alone and in silence without interaction with others?" 

NO. What type of person do you people think I am?! 

Well.. turns out I am known as an ESFJ. An extraverted-sensing-feeling-judging person. -- I promise there is a point to all of this... ESFJs are known for being highly sociable people that base a lot of decisions off of the way they feel. They also have a tendency to want to help people annnnnd (catch this next one) they are "fervent guardians of tradition." The entire time while reading the "ESFJ self description" paper I was in shock. It was like someone hired a private investigator to analyze my life then write a paper on it... weirrrrd stuff. After reading the paragraph on being "guardians of tradition"  I. WAS. SOLD. 

If being a guardian of tradition was a college major, I would be all over that. I would excel in my class, graduate as valedictorian and become a millionaire because thats how good I am at guarding my traditions. DO NOT mess with them. DO NOT take them away or alter them in any way, shape or form. Just stay away from my traditions. I feel bad for my family because I never allow family traditions to fade away. Wow I am really sorry for that rabbit trail... 

All that to say I love family traditions. Especially Christmas traditions! Here are a few of my favorite family traditions: 

Soup on Christmas Eve // my grandmother used to make oyster stew every Christmas eve for my mom and her siblings... now, every Christmas eve my mom cooks soup for my brothers and I. We are all very thankful it is not oyster stew. 

Pajamas // every Christmas eve we are allowed to open ONE present. this one present is always a set of pajamas to sleep in, so that on Christmas morning we can demolish our stockings in style. 

Cinnamon Rolls // I'm sure if I surveyed my three brothers, this would be a family fav. our mom makes THE BEST homemade cinnamon rolls. she wakes up extra early christmas morning and bakes them so that when we get up they are fresh out of the oven. now that all my brothers are married and live in their own houses, they all come over with their wives and kids to partake in eating my mom's famous cinnamon rolls Christmas morning. 

Christmas Lights // For all us Southern Oregon folk, there sure isn't much to do at Christmas time (or anytime at all) compared to other cities like Portland. Probably one of the most well known activities to do around the holidays is look at the Christmas lights on a particular street called Greystone. (if you live in the Rogue Valley and you have never been to see these lights, go away) Anyways, the people who live on said street go wayyyy over the top with the decorations. It's almost surreal. There is almost always lines are cars waiting to see the lights, or in some cases **smart people walking down the street (** in my opinion, not very smart people, because who wants to walk in the frigid weather?! I would much rather sit in my car, with the Michael Bublé Christmas album playing, my seat heater on, and a hot chocolate in my hand. But do what you please.) Be watching for some pictures as it gets closer to Christmas!



I love hearing about every family's unique Christmas traditions... They are all so much fun and I cant wait to start traditions of my own someday! I hope your holiday seasons are all going really well! 


on a side note that has nothing to do with traditions, here are some pictures of Evan and I with reindeer ears and rudolph noses: 

happy blogging. xo.