Every year my Mom's side of the family gets together for a big family Christmas. This year was sad because my sweet Granny wasn't there. I know we all missed her so bad - and although it was different, it was great to have everyone there (well almost everyone - we were missing Chris, my cousin Mary Elizabeth, cousin Amy and her husband Bruce and their two kids Ben and Luke).
We had a big feast of Honey Baked Ham, mac and cheese, corn, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, yams, cranberry salad, dinner rolls, deviled eggs... what am I forgetting??? Desserts, Crabby Aunt Bev's Crab Dip.... well, you get the point. It was a lot of yummy food.
After lunch I attempted to keep a tradition alive. Every year when Granny was here she would give her 3 kids and all the grand kids $50. It used to be in a santa envelope - then she started getting creative. She put them in little felt Christmas sleeves one year, hand made stockings another year, and hand made felt photo albums last year.
Well, last year I found these cute little glasses cases made out of men's neck ties. I got her one and said "this year for Christmas instead of getting you something that will sit around your house, I got you a project. You can make these to put our $50's in - and smiled jokingly". She looked at me and said "I'll do it". Unfortunately she passed away before she could make them, but I decided to step up and make them for everyone for her. I couldn't put a $50 in each one, but I did put little slips of paper in each one. Some were blank and some had stuff on it. We were all in a circle and starting with my Uncle Jim (who is now officially the oldest there) we each went around and grabbed our favorite from the center. The next could either take from the center or steal a case from someone else. There was one case that was pretty popular - it was stolen twice until it was locked out!
For the slips of paper: One had a tree - and that person got a rosemary tree. Another had pecans on it and they got a bag of pecans. Another had a light switch - and they could switch neck tie cases with anyone if they wanted. And the last had a robber - and he could seal any gift or case (Robin stole the rosemary tree - I'm sure it was for Nancy haha). Oh - and then there was the Santa Dollar. I put a Santa Dollar in one case - and that person is in charge of getting the cases for next year and keeping the tradition alive. They can be anything from plain envelopes to something hand made... they just had to be creative. Well - my brother was the lucky devil who got it - so there is no telling what he will come up with!!!
Once all that was over with - we pulled out all the gifts we got for the families we were sponsoring. The families were victims of domestic violence and we wanted to help them have a Merry Christmas. As I mentioned before it was 2 families. A mom and her son and daughter, and a Dad with 2 girls and a boy. All kids were ages 2-5 so it was fun to shop for them. We got them clothes, pajamas, barbies, barbie laptops, dora stuff, transformers, books, stuffed animals, stockings filled to the brim, and the list continues!! We even got stuff for the parents.
I came home with 3 black garbage bags of wrapped toys, 2 comforter cases full of presents, and a big box that had stockings and presents for the parents. My car was PACKED!!!! I had stuff piled up in the front seat, on the floor boards and shoved in every corner of the car.
I think this will be a new family tradition for us - to help a family in need. I just wish we could see their faces as they opened the presents on Christmas Day!
So blessed to have such a wonderful loving family.
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