Christmas Pickles and Trains- Traditions with Megan from Kitschy Suburbia

I want to thank Megan from Kitschy Suburbia for sharing her Christmas traditions with us today. I want to come celebrate with her, who doesn't want a three day celebration!

A big Merry Christmas to all of the readers of Housewife Eclectic!  This is Megan from Kitschy Suburbia and when Debra asked me if I'd be willing to share my Christmas traditions, I got all excited.  I started thinking about all the great Christmases I've shared with my family and friends and I'm happy to share them with you.  And what's better than finding some new traditions?

I have two versions of my Christmas traditions.  Why?  Because my family lives in California and I live in New Mexico.  Sure, we (the hubs, Nate - 5 and Mason - 2) have our own traditions but those traditions started somewhere, right?  These were my traditions when I was growing up.

Every year, the siblings (my dad's siblings) and their kids (the cousins) would get together and decorate our grandparent's Christmas tree.  Grammie would make dinner (there was *always* lots of food at family functions) and after dinner, we'd gather in to the living room, eat cookies, drink (unspiked) eggnog and decorate the tree.  The big tradition here wasn't the trimming of the tree - it was the train that the cousins posed for after every tree was decorated.

These are the cousins in 1985.  From left to right: my sister, Kristen, cousin Ross, me and cousin Matt.

Fast forward six years to 1991.  Front to back: my sister, Kristen, cousin Juniper, cousin Ross, me and cousin Matt.  I love that we have so many pictures of this.  My sister and my cousins?  We'll see once they see the pictures.  LOL

As for Christmas itself, it's spread over three days.  You read that right.  Three. days.

Christmas Eve night is celebrated over at my Grandma's house.  We have dinner and get caught up on the happenings of friends and family.  Every year my Grandma hides a glass pickle ornament in her (over) decorated tree.  Whoever finds it first gets a prize.  I think my husband has found it the last two times we were over there.  I started a tradition a few years ago to give the boys one gift to open every Christmas Eve.  Nate got ALL excited to open a present early last year - he was just a *little* disappointed when said package was pajamas.

Christmas morning is spent at my parent's house where do the same thing every year (and I love that it never changes): open presents and stockings before other family comes over, then we have breakfast of Monkey Bread, scrambled eggs and sausage links.  And as far back as I can remember, Santa has always left a mandarin in the toe of my stocking.  I don't exactly know why, but sometimes, that's the fun of traditions.  It used to be just my parents, my sister and I in the morning, but when my family comes to visit now, it's six adults and two kids crammed in to a little house.  Chaotic?  Yes.  Awesome?  Absolutely.

We get to relax for a little while, then we all head over to my Aunt and Uncle's house for dinner.  It's started to be a smaller affair in the more recent years, but I remember it being a HUGE deal - a *large* living room FULL of adults and a smaller dining room FULL of kids.  And once we got old enough, the kids *get* to clean the dishes after the meal.

The kids table circa 1984!  Starting with the boy in blue: cousin Alex, me, cousin Amy, cousin Leana, cousin John-John and my sister, Kristen.  There were at least 3 more at the table that weren't squeezed in to the picture.

Then...if that's not enough...the day AFTER Christmas we go out to the Ranch (used to be my grandparents' house but is now my cousins' house) to eat up all the leftovers.  It's all *such* a racket, but I love it.  To me, family and friends is the meaning of Christmas.  We only get out to visit my family in CA every other Christmas and it makes me appreciate the chaos of it all that much more. 

Thank you to Debra for letting me stroll down a Christmas-y memory lane.  And a big thank you to YOU for letting me share these memories with you!