This year is the first year spent away from home. A time for breaking old traditions and making new traditions!

One unexpected event on Christmas Eve that I can already hope never happens again was Dad getting rushed to the hospital. It took many tests and a stay overnight for him to finally get released, though without much of a diagnosis, from the sound of it. Dad suspects that in the end, all the doctors gathered in a room and drew a diagnosis from a hat. 🙂 So silly. Another event that I hope is nontraditional is Mike forgetting to bring any kind of pants other than his sweat pants. 😛

So thankfully, Dad is home now and enjoying the first “different” Christmas day we’ve had in years… and years… and years. And I am in VA doing the same! In honor of traditions (which I love), I thought I’d share some of the old and some of the new!

Some of the old traditions we’ve cherished for as long as I can remember:

6am wake-up call:

Big Christmas Breakfast after getting dressed for the day and making beds:

Christmas Day Advent, then opening gifts:

An afternoon of snacking on Christmas cookies, enjoying gifts, and reading by the fire:

Christmas dinner with various family members who are in town:

And some new traditions I’m enjoying today:

Waking up… whenever 🙂 and opening gifts in pajamas with Family Paschals:

A white Christmas!

Christmas movies throughout the day:

A snowman… a smoking snowman! (Can you see the lit cigarette in his mouth? That’s a VA snowman for you…)

So there you have it. I hope you all are enjoying your Christmas holidays and spending time with friends and family, whether this is a year of continuing old traditions or making new ones. As Tiny Tim would say, “God bless us, everyone!”