It's day four of my guest blogger series for the holidays! I hope ya'll have enjoyed posts thus far from Stephanie at Big Mario Life and Amanda and Elizabeth at Do I Even Like This? Their stories have been so sweet and remind me exactly why I love this time of year so much. Anna's post today is no exception.
Bloggers like Anna create such a wonderful sense of community within the blogosphere. Her blog, In Honor of Design, is one of my must-reads and reflects so well her great eye(she's a graphic designer), elegant taste, and humble, wonderful heart. (I can imagine she's a fantastic mama.)
I am lucky to come from a family with ten brothers and sisters! We have many traditions and Christmas is now a rare time where we can all be together under one roof. Our Christmas Eve traditions I look forward to year round...and now my husband does too:)
We all dress up and attend Christmas Eve Mass. On the way home we drive through the neighborhood to spot out all the best Christmas lights. As soon as we walk in the door at home, all hands work together to prepare a Christmas Eve feast of our favorite appetizers. We will then gather around the fireplace in the family room and do our annual gift exchange. This is by far has provided my most favorite Christmas memories.
My siblings and I are all very close, and its beautiful to see how each person (now including husbands and a few babies) really makes such an effort to pick the most special gift for the brother or sister whose name they drew that year. It has brought tears to my eyes on numerous occasions. We end the night with carols around the piano and leaving out cookies for St. Nicholas of course;) I am getting excited just thinking about it!
Um, does anyone else want to join Anna's family? Carols around the piano?! Want. (Nevermind the fact that I'd be lip syncing. It's the festive principle!) I am really tight with my sibling too (though there are only two of us), and so appreciate the close bond that I am blessed enough to share with my brother. I know not all family members can forge those relationships, so it's quite a gift to be so connected to your kin. Thanks for this warm story of holiday love, Anna!
Such a beautiful tradition! Siblings are the absolute best to share memories with!
ReplyDeleteSuch lovely traditions. My mom is one of 14 so you can imagine the level of name-drawing going on by the time grandkids were included. It always felt so nice to get to really focus on one person each year and have an opportunity to connect to what they were all about.
ReplyDeleteI hope you have a wonderful Christmas! Thanks for your good wishes too.
ReplyDeletehttp://missbbobochic.blogspot.com/
Agreed! I can imagine having a family of that size would be such a blast. :)
ReplyDeleteOh, definitely! We do name drawing for our extended family (which is who I usually spend Christmas Eve with), and it's so nice to take the time to shop with one person in mind, especially if it's someone who I can have fun shopping for! (I get pretty jazzed when I see a wishlist of kitchen stuff, makeup and candy. Haha.)
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