As Christmas approaches again, I have started thinking about how it will look from here on out. This year, things will not change too much, but next year, there will be a drastic difference: OUR SON! Sweet Baby Jack should be 8 months old (um, WOW!) next Christmas and the years from then on will be so much fun!
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| my Big Bub and me - Christmas 1988 |
I remember Christmas as a little girl...it was the. best. ever. and my opinion of it has only gotten greater throughout the years, so I began reflecting on the Christmas traditions that I hold so near and dear to my heart.
Each year, we would always get our tree up relatively soon after Thanksgiving. It was always a real tree and always smelled. so. good. Many years, we'd go cut it down ourselves. My brother, my mom, my dad, (sometimes my sister) and I would bust out all the ornaments and have a blast getting them up on the tree...most to all had some kind of sentiment and it was always so magical (and incredibly humorous) reflecting on the ornaments with our family and the significance behind them. Each one, each year, provided smiles and great stories to carry us through the magic of the holiday. Finally, we would adorn the tree with candy canes and put decorations around the house. I would spend the next shortened weeks at school, feeling as if they were the longest days ever and just could. not. wait. for that burden to end so I could spend the days at home with my family, eagerly anticipating the sensation of the holiday that was sure to come.
When the days finally arrived, we'd head to church and then have my grandparents and other family nearby over for a Christmas Eve dinner where we had something Italian like spaghetti, manicotti, ziti, lasagna, etc... (not sure why, as we are not Italian, but it's still a tradition and I STILL. LOVE. IT!). Next, we'd drive around town and everywhere else, scoping out all of the Christmas lights, enjoying the good, the bad, and the ugly and come home and set out cookies and an Ale-8 for Santa to enjoy. My brother and I would be so excited that I'd always sleep in his room. Finally, we'd wake up Christmas morning and mom and dad would make us wait at the top of the stairs so they could get their cameras ready for us to run down them towards our gifts set up around the tree. No matter how old, we ALWAYS had stocking stuffed with goodies, gifts set up (not wrapped, of course) from Santa, AND then we'd have family gift time where'd we'd open our mound of gifts from mom and dad and then the other members of our immediate family. After enjoying our gifts, followed by a delicious homemade breakfast, we'd shower and head over to my Nana and Pop's where my 3 aunts were there with their families. We'd open family gifts and then have a FANTASTIC lunch, visiting and loving every moment with each other, followed by games with the family through the night. Typically, the fun wouldn't stop as we'd head to a movie or have a sleepover with all my cousins back at our house.
Bottom line, every year, it was A BLAST! While several things have changed through the years (my high school years, we had to leave either Christmas afternoon, or the day after on a flight to Dallas for my cheerleading national championships, so that really put a hinder on things), one thing has NEVER changed: spending time with family, and I want Jack to have the same love and excitement for this magical holiday as I carry close with me throughout all my years. People have changed, passed away, grown up, or simply moved on with the changing times of their personal families, but my parents and their children have tried to continue on with our own traditions. We still have blessings. We still have our faith, hope, love, joy, church, and the celebration of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. We still have Santa gifts and Mom and Dad gifts. We still have stockings...we still have the food...and we still have each other. The togetherness will never cease, the sensation of the holiday will always be more than apparent, and thus, Jack will be blessed with the love and adoration conducive to a magical Christmas, rich with these traditions, year after year, after year, after year. He is a lucky boy, and I am a lucky momma who is the daughter of two parents that have worked their entire lives to surround their children with love, support, adoration, and rich holiday traditions. I can't wait to continue these traditions that I hold so near and dear to my heart with my own little family, and have my son experience it all too! What an exciting journey this will be!
Here are many Christmas memories through the years...some were old, some were new, and some were downright different...but here they are - all them, even the good, the bad, and the ugly styles!
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us running down the stairs...yes, they made us stand in order from youngest to oldest; love where my parents' heads were!
speaking of heads, check out my sister's...bahahaha!!! |
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| When my brother was gone to college, it was just Cathryn, and my mom & dad and me doing the tree decorating |
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| My first Christmas...next year, Jack won't be too much younger than this! |
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| Christmas 1999 (my sophomore year of high school) - cheerleading nationals in Dallas, TX |
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| our LAST Christmas we had to spend in Dallas, TX - my senior year! |
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| Christmas last year! We woke up to all. this. snow! Do you remember?!? |
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| a somewhat newbie to the Banker family Christmases...Shawnee! He was here putting out reindeer food for Santa and his merry reindeer! I remember always leaving cookies and an Ale-8 for Santa each year and was so excited to see them gone Christmas morning! |
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| MY momma! Gah, I love her :) |
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| Christmas 1987 |
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| Christmas 1989 - this was the year we spent it at the Chalet in West Virginia and got almost FOUR FEET of snow! |
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| Christmas 1986 at my Nana's :) |
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| Christmas 2009 - had to have extensive knee surgery the last day of school before break so this is how my Christmas looked THAT year |
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| Shawnee putting on a costume parade in the days before Christmas to cheer up an incapacitated Aunt B |
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| Christmas gift exchange with my hometown girlfriends |
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| CHRISTMAS PRESENT AND FUTURE: the Morels (B's sister and her fam) and the Thomases (B's parents) come in and stay at OUR house right before New Year's for our Thomas Family Christmas celebration and we end up spending New Year's Eve with them too! It started because of the Christmas with my knee surgery, but here we are planning it again, for our 3 Christmas in a row! |
Wonder how these pictures will look 20 years from now when we add to them with our new addition and he adds some of his own?!? Wow!! It's mesmerizing to think about, but I love it and can't wait to see how our future and traditions within, pan out!
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| and HEEERRRE's the UGLY! Sweaters, that is. |
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Love,
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