Christmas Traditions
Yes, Christmas was a few days ago now. But it is in the days after Christmas that I actually have more time to think about things, such as our Christmas traditions.
Christmas traditions can vary by family, and even by individual. We in our family all have things that we like to do each year, and getting to do them makes the Christmas holidays seem even more special. And if you don’t get to do one of those traditions one year, it makes the next time you get to do it more special, too.
Christmas Movies
We have a few different Christmas movies and shows that we do our best to watch every year. If we don’t get to see them one year, it isn’t the end of the world, of course. But we do enjoy watching them.
For example, Laura likes to watch Muppet Christmas Carol when she wraps Christmas presents. It is one of her favorite movies. This year, she followed it up with Muppet Treasure Island, another of her favorites. She usually has time to watch another movie or two while she wraps, too.
All of us like to watch all of the different Prep & Landing specials. We have a Blu-Ray set of all of them, so that makes it easy. Some people prefer Charlie Brown. We prefer Wayne and Lanny.
And then I always like to watch Mickey’s Christmas Carol, too. Perhaps it is because I can remember seeing it in the movie theater during its initial run, when it was paired with a rerelease of The Rescuers. Or maybe it is because I like seeing all of the Disney characters in it. In later years, I have come to appreciate such things as the hand-drawn animation and the color styling. And I always just like Scooge McDuck, too.
Here is my version of Scrooge McDuck as Ebeneezer Scrooge. This was actually drawn while we were watching something else, but we did watch Mickey’s Christmas Carol this year, too.
Christmas Lights
We have a few traditions around Christmas lights. The biggest one is that we have lots and lots of Christmas lights, Christmas trees, and Christmas decorations around our house. They all come on automatically when it gets dark. Also, Alexa turns them on whenever we tell her Merry Christmas, and she wishes us a Merry Christmas in return, too. That Alexa is pretty handy sometimes.
Another of our Christmas traditions is that we leave our Christmas lights, trees, and decorations up well after Christmas. The time after the actual Christmas Day is when we have a chance to really enjoy them, after all the shopping, wrapping, and gatherings are done. Nothing wrong with those who take them down earlier than we do, but we choose to leave ours up for a while. Don’t mind us over here enjoying our lights a little longer.
Yet another tradition involves driving around and looking at others’ Christmas lights. Except for going to the drive-through Starry Nights display in Memphis, we did not get to do that this year. We did see Christmas lights as we were driving to different places, of course. But we did not have a time dedicated to just driving around and looking at lights. Oh well, maybe next year. Sorry if we missed yours.
Good Times
There are other traditions, too. We like to be with specific people each year by way of different gatherings. We often eat the same foods at those gatherings. We take family photos at those gatherings when we can. And we send out Christmas cards, too. And lots of other things each year as well.
But then sometimes we do different things from before. And sometimes we decide we like those different things and they become new traditions. Nothing wrong with that, either. In a year or two, we will see if anything we did this year becomes a new tradition.
After all, traditions are good, but new things are fun, too.
When they saw him, they related what they had been told about this child, and all who heard it were astonished at what the shepherds said. But Mary treasured up all these words, pondering in her heart what they might mean. - Luke 2:17-19
About the Artwork
You probably already know this, but the artwork above is just fan art and nothing official by Disney or anything like that. Drawn on my iPad using the Procreate app as always. And more of a quick sketch and coloring than anything really serious, too.