Christmas Differences....

In addition to preparing for my trip to Mexico for New Years, I'm gearing myself up for Christmas. I'll be spending the holidays with James, Terralyn and their family, so it will be a very different Christmas for me, indeed. Of course, there are always different Christmas tradtions between families, but my family is particularly different from the "average American Christian family."

First of all, my siblings and I aren't Christian. Well, now....that does make things a bit different, doesn't it. We didn't celebrate Christmas until I was about 13 years old after moving to the United States. Even then, we never celebrated it like other families. It's much more casual and laid back. It's more about food and family with receiving gifts as more of a bonus. My family "tradition:"

I wake up Christmas day to my mom making sure she has everything cooked and organized. We then drive to my grandma's house (about an hour or less away) where my uncle and perhaps his friend, Bill, will also be. We help with any cooking/organizing that needs to be done there and then sit down to a nice meal at around 3:00 (give or take). Of course, there are desserts-o-plenty. Then, after we eat, we clean up a bit and start opening gifts. Usually the gifts are more simple and not in huge abundance. In fact, I usually just bake goodies for people as my gifts (brownies, fudge, cookies, whatever). Then we sit and chat for the rest of the evening, perhaps taking a nice winter stroll after all of our eating.