I love reading all the traditions! Made an audible "awwwwww" even!

We make it a tradition to change every year. LOL! I'll explain. Each year we have Christmas eve at Mr. Lixy's mom's house...that's a given. We open all the gifts his sis and parents give us...and they open ours to them. Then, Mr. Lixy and I go visiting whichever friends are home and still up, and exchange gifts with them. Then we go home and open one gift to each other...have a nightcap...and go to bed. We wake in the morning...open our other gifts to one another...and off we go, for the entire day, to either Aunt Flossie's (on his mother's side) with his mom and step-dad and sis and nephew, or to his dad and step-mom's house...depending on who we visited the previous year. See? A traditional change of time spent from year to year!

I always kid the family that it'd be worse for lack of sharing time if both my parents were still alive...as they didn't live together either, and we'd have to spend every fourth Christmas day at one or the four homes...lol! Some day soon, I'm just gonna make the whole family come to our house for the day. It gets exhausting!

Oh...I almost forgot the ornaments. Mr. Lixy has hand blown ornaments from the year he was born till he moved from his home. Various aunts and uncles and godparents gave them to him through the years. We always display those in the front of the tree. They are so delicate and beautiful! Since his moving, his mother started giving him...and then me...Hallmark Keepsakes every year. They always reflect something special in his and my life at the time. We have dozens of them now...and still getting more with every year.

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Minds are like parachutes. They only work when they are open.

~Thomas Dewar~