My parents were really poor for most of my childhood but there were always toys under the tree. My parents did special wrapping paper for each kid so we had our own "mound" coming out of the bottom of the tree. My mom's parents were always there for the whole day. I just always remember being happy, fully belly and feeling loved and that sense of "home". Like everything was right in the world.

I hope my kids have that same feeling and are able to look back on the holiday's and remember being happy and loved. 

Christmas was amazing and magical when I was a chid. My mother put so much thought and effort into it...our house was decorated...we baked..we went to parades and Christmas shows and shopped till we dropped in Christmas outfits....

i was so spoiled with tons of gifts (only child) on Christmas Eve and on Christmas Day! So much love and laughter and lifelong memories.....it was literally perfect year and year. I felt like it was Christmas all month long.

now......meh. 

We didn't have much since my mom raised us 3 alone without CS but she made it so magical.  We lived on the same island and my cousins and grand parents so we would go house to house for dinners, parties and cookie making.  We went to church pot luck and made wreaths from trees that my uncles cut down.  We went Christmas caroling and baked for the elders to deliver them their Christmas desserts.

My favorite part of the whole month is we would bundle in the car with blankets,  hats and gloves with my grandmother and drive around the towns with thermos of hot chocolate with the windows down and looked at everyones Christmas lights.

My mom saved all year for that one special gift we asked for and most times we did get it.  "Santa" took care of the rest.

I still call her for the old 70's party food recipes that I loved.  Simple things like dates stuffed with cream cheese and rolled in sugar.  

Wonderful memories!

We can do everything that I liked doing as a child. Covid doesn't get in the way of doing the little special things with your immediate family. 

My parents would decorate be tree overnight on Christmas Eve so I went to sleep with a bare tree and woke up to a fully decorated one. It was so magical to do it like that. If you're not having guests over and the kids are still little then it really blows their minds to do this.

We also went on long drives to look at Christmas lights. As my brother and I got older and had our own licenses we would each pick out our favorite light display and we'd go as a family and show each other our favorites. 

Tree cutting in the snow, decorating tree together with hot chocolate drinks, feast on Xmas Eve and leftovers next day so mom didn't cook, cookies (i still do cookies for myself), fun stocking stuffers, just hanging out all day.

The only thing I carry over now is cookies for myself and neighborhood gifts. No one else cares about my traditions. Oh, I don't cook at all, DH knows this. I might do pancakes Xmas morning if I feel like it. This year meh.