Christmas to me

There are so many things I love about Christmas. If I don't bore you too much I will list them off. Take note that they aren't in any particular order, but some are more important than others (if you are impatient just make sure to read the last paragraph).

Christmas Music: I love listening to Christmas music starting the day after Thanksgiving. There are some Christmas songs that I can't listen too. I don't have that much patience. I am an absolute fan of Bing Crosby's and Josh Grobans Christmas music as well as traditional Mo-Tab and instrumental arrangements (I love Vaughn Williams)

The snow-self-sufficient Neighborhood: My neighbors always choose this time of year to help each other. It is a community event The morning after a big snow storm. Those with regular shovels and snow spitters clear the sidewalks and then their individual driveways off. When one person is done with their own driveway they will more often than not go help clear out the the Older neighbors driveways, and after that help with those who happen to not be completely done clearing their drive. Later in the evening after the City plows have come through everyone goes out again to clear the edge of their driveway so they can get their cars out. The 4-wheelers really help here.

Neighbors are also amazing for spreading the Christmas sugar-cheer. :) The yearly goody exchange is always great. My family also has a neighbor who cooks a full-blown Laosian meal for us. It is the best rice and egg-rolls ever consumed!

The Littlest Elf: My family, every year, chooses a family to do the 12 days of Christmas for. We have a poem that goes for the 12 days and it stars "For the first day of Christmas a Sneaky little Elf, gave us some popcorn to put upon our shelf" My brothers and I go elf-mission impossible-ninja style to drop of the goods. We dress up with our faces covered and usually have very red and green outfits. We then debate as to ring the doorbell or not, or to just drop it and run before they find out. After the first week or so of the 12 days our. . .victims always try to catch us. It is quite frightening running down the slippery sidewalk away from a man running after us in his pajamas and trying to find out who we are. It is great!

Peanut-butter cookies and Hot chocolate.

Saint Nicholas Day. A very German tradition of leaving out shoes out on the 6th to be filled with candy and little toys sometimes. It was just yesterday and Saint Nicholas brings German chocolate which is the best chocolate ever!

The nativity put on by 'the grandkids' of the Family: I was Mary starting from when I was about 4 to when I was 10ish. After that I refused to be Mary any more (especially since my brother Josh was always Joseph. . .) and after a couple years as a shepherd I went into stage and costume management. For our 'program' we read from Matthew with intermittent Christmas Hymns. It is always a very fun way to keep all of focused on the true meaning of Christmas.

German Food: I am blessed to be in a family of Great Cooks who are of German descent. Christmas eve meals include, but are not limited too: Spetsula (Homemade egg noodle), Goulash (Meat stew-stuff), Roladen (Sliced london broil wrapped with Bacon, mustard, pickles, and onions. Browned, and then put in a crockpot for 6-8 hours with 2 parts brown 1 part beef gravy- my favorite), Mashed Potatoes, Rotkohl (Ick! only one I don't like but it is always there, got the nickname roadkill by some of the family. Boiled red cabbage with the consistency of stringy applesauce) German Wieners (with brown mustard), peppermint or haggenbutten tea (Both herbal and no Caffeine), and open-faced sandwiches (German rye bread with any or all of the following; Salami, ham, prosciutto, turkey, roast beef, braunschweiger (liver-paste-spread :) ), Fleishsalad (capers, homemade mayo, and meat-noodles), cheeses (butterkeasa, brie, swiss, munster, and sharp swiss), german pickles, and mustard. When my brothers make them they can get rather tall.

NO SCHOOL: it just makes the time of year better.

All the stories we hear every year.

Stories from grandpa and grandad(my great grandpa).

The presents: My mother is such a gift person. She spends half the year picking out and getting each of us the "perfect gift" She loves the looks on our faces when we get something that we would never have expected or thought could have been afforded. But my mother watches garage sales, craigslist, and other secret sources and many times she finds the things we just dream about having but didn't even ask for.

Christmas morning: Me and all of my siblings are all downstairs, and are not allowed upstairs until 7-8 (depends on the year) so when one of us wakes up, usually the youngest who is now 7, they then wake everyone else up. This is anywhere from 5:45 to 6:30 in the morning. We then play games as siblings downstairs or just talk with each other. When it gets to about 5 minutes before we are allowed upstairs we all get ready with fleece blannkets and sometimes slippers and robes, and run up the stairs to my parents room, with the younger ones covering their eyes and the older ones, out of habit, not looking into the living room. We then as a family go into the living room, The first to be attacked are the stockings. We go through and get our new toothbrushes, some candy, citrus, and pistachios. We then open all of the Santa presents first. starting with the youngest and going to the oldest, and then the family presents. After all the presents are open we all go the kitchen and make Christmas Breakfast. It always has fresh-squeezed OJ, hot choclate, toast, pancakes, eggs, bacon. We spend a good 2-3 hours around the table eating and talking. then we are allowed to go play with our new toys for a bit. Great day, but still not my absolute favorite part.

THE BEST PART OF CHRISTMAS FOR ME:

Caroling with my Leishman family: On Christmas eve after dinner and the Nativity we all bundle up and walk to several of the neighbors houses to carol. They all know us and expect us every year and will even make sure to be home when we come by. One of them have all of their families with them. We sing many songs and with the 29 and counting there are of us. My Leishman side of the family is very musically talents and it sounds amazing when everyone sings. My favorite song is when we sing "Silent Night" as a family. It always brings tears to my eyes and to everyone Else's. I can remember caroling every single year since I was 5. I remember that once I stopped singing just so I could listen because all of a sudden the song got louder and fuller as more voices seemed to join in, I looked around and everyone that was supposed to be singing was, I thought that angels sang with us. Now that I am older I don't just think that there are angels there when my family sings together in worshiping the Savior. . . I KNOW that there are angels that join us as we sing and share the meaning of the season and the Love that originates from God.