I cook the biggest turkey I can find, even if it is just the two of us. Our son, daughter in law and grandchildren come here or go to her mother's. Doesn't matter to us. There is always food on hand for anyone who comes here on Thanksgiving. Besides we love football!

Christmas is my favorite time - we decorate the inside and the outside and this year I am going to put twinkle lights in my bottle tree. I come from Swedish and German descent and we make Potatis Korv (Swedish Potato sausage) and then on Christmas Eve Day the traditional Stollen is made - I am the official baker of the Stollen now :D . We all meet at Mom's and she has the Matriarchal chair and gifts and love and laughter are all bestowed on her and the rest of us (total 25). Mom is 93 and last year was the last we will all get together simultaneously. It is too much for her and she will make her Christmas last two weeks with everyone coming one family at a time.

The kids come over to our house on Christmas morning and we open gifts and then eat! They have the inlaws to go to also. So when they leave we just collapse and eat leftovers.

I love the holidays. I am particularly going to be excited about this one. I made the kids a quilt (sampler). So I think maybe next year a gift I will make will be a blanket for all the dogs in the family. Seven! I made one for Bess (our dog) and she loves to be covered up in it.

Besides the REASON FOR THE SEASON, we are all family and one way or the other we will get together. I love Christmas. I love the tree, the ornaments that we have collected for the past 50 years. I love to see the little ones in the Christmas program at church and remember the times I was in the programs on Christmas Eve. I particularly remember being Gabriel and had the most beautiful angel costume, wings with gold ribbon on it and a halo made of a coathanger and gold ribbon - the one and only time I had a halo. As I got older (teen) I would play the organ for the Christmas program. This continued on until six months before I got married. My future husband and I were having a drink after I was through with work. Well, I had a little too much. When I got to church I was a little topsy turvy and I put on my robe, sat down at the organ and played Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring without a mistake - the first and only time.

I love Christmas. Edie

My mom loves Christmas she starts decorating for Thanksgiving a month early and then on Thanksgiving day she puts away all the Thanksgiving decor and gets out all the Christmas decorations and decorates her tree. She will move things around and redo this setting or that setting. She has a brick walk in fireplace that is one whole wall. She has a long mantle there and has it full of Santas or what ever she decides. She collects antiques and old collectibles etc. I will have to take pictures this year and share with you all. Good idea for another thread!! Christmas decorating pictures from everyone!!

Boy! this really made me think of memories past. For years it was just my son and I so we wanted to make our own memories. So Christmas Eve was our night I would buy a small turkey to make and we would have nice dinner and open our gifts. One year I couldn't find a small turkey so I got this 19 lb one we had a great laugh when we were done eating it didn't even look like had. We had turkey for weeks. We always put the Christmas tree up about 2 weeks before my son would be so excited he's stand in front of it and flap his arms with joy. Well one year I told him if he couldn't behave the tree would be put away well the next morning I got up and the tree was down and packed in it's boxes. He wasn't going to make any promises. Christmas day was always at my mom's as was Thanksgiving. I still put up a Christmas tree only now it is done in memory of my son who loved the Christmas Holiday he passed away at the age of 26 years old 13 years ago now. I miss the family get together laughing, talking, playing games as my family lives in Minnesota and My second husband and I live in Wyoming, so it just the two of us on the Holidays.

Forgot to add to my orginal post that the spiral ham we have for Christmas dinner has added bonuses:

1. I use the left over ham for the annual Christmas week lunch we have for a few friends,

2. I freeze the ham bone and little bits of ham until there is some really cold and maybe snowing Winter weather and then make a huge pot of split pea soup, and best of all,

3. I often get the spiral ham for FREE. Local supermarket usually gives them away if I buy a certain amount from them between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

You know, after re-reading my original post I did mention some negative things about problems we had setting up our Holiday dinners and get togethers but am so glad we've all learned to adapt to others needs so we all can look forward to Good Times and Celebrations. As one gal said, let's celebrate The Reason For The Season, May in Jersey

perfect May! I agree, sometimes we forget why we are celebrating.

Christmas Eve is "my holiday". I ask for the kids to come home and we have a meatless Polish dinner- hubby's tradition and then church. It's just not Christmas without going together to church- the darkness of the evening makes the stained glass windows sparkle and the candles cast such a golden glow. We come home and open a family gift (I get 1 for the whole family) and when the kids were younger we read the story of the first Christmas and sang carols.

Christmas Day, I share, but I LOVE Christmas Eve.

I think I need to rent some kids. (for the month of Dec.- there were so many things I did with the kids)

Well, we usually spend Thanksgiving with my family because my parents and DH's live about 6 hours apart, so there is no sharing. My MIL usually has to work the Friday after Thanksgiving and typically they would spend it with DH's aunt and uncle. We went there before we had kids and drove the 4 hours each way all in the day. Now with kids, that is just too much driving.

As for Christmas....it is my FAVORITE holiday. We decorate the weekend after Thanksgiving. Since we had the kids, we decided that we wanted them to have the majic of waking up in thier house and Santa having been there. And not to mention that our two are the only two Grandkids on both sides, so instead of having to choose between parents, we host everyone here. It is only our immediate family that comes and I love having everyone here.

We usually have another Christmas with each parent at their house on a different weekend. I also have a baking day with my mom and sister where we crank out cookies! Yummy and fun!

I actually have some Christmas eve food traditions. Potato salad with homemade mayonaise, Frankfurters, and Celery root salad.

The first time I went in search of celery root, the clerk in the store looked at me as if I had just asked him about a 3-legged chicken. Sorry Mam, I have never heard of that, but let me get the produce manager. The produce manager apologized profusely because they used to carry the bulbs but nobody ever wanted them. So he went to call another store (who actually had some). While I waited this sweet young stock boy asked me what I was planning to make. "Celery Salad" He then asked me with a very serious face: "Can't you use radishes? I have lots of radishes." I cracked up.