Christmas Traditions

I love Christmas. Everything about it. The smell, the lights, the colors, the bows, everything. I'm also very big on tradition. I thought today I would share a few of my Christmas traditions with you.

1) Decorating my parent's house. My dad has always been a kid at heart and Christmas just brings that kid in him front and center. The brighter the better. Let's just say you can see my parent's house from a mile down the road. This year my dad told me he didn't want to do a lot. My mom told me they're getting too old for it. Um. Hello. You're in your fifties not your eighties. So I decided to take on the outside display this year while my dad stayed warm inside. It wouldn't be Christmas without it. I had to. So my boyfriend and I spent a day bringing the decorations up from the basement, staking them into place and hooking them up to the electric. My dad has two breakers for Christmas lights alone. We didn't put every single inflatable (my dad has 10 no joke, I counted) but I'm happy with the result. I'll be sure to post a picture as soon as I take one. For now I have an old picture of when we were setting up. It's actually really old, my parent's have had vinyl siding for years now.

2) Going to get a tree. I don't do fake. I grew up with a real tree and I have to have a real tree. My mom tried so many times to crossover to the dark side and buy a fake tree, but me and my dad always won that fight, even now and I don't even live home anymore. We used to actually go and cut our tree down, but now that I'm in my late 20's we gave that up and go to a place where they are already cut. I should say places. It wouldn't be tradition if we didn't go to 500 places.(Though, this year it was only one) My mom is picky. Even now at 27 my boyfriend and I usually go with my parents to get a tree, they have an SUV that can accommodate them and they usually pay. I fight them every time but that's another fight my day always wins. It's always an adventure. I also always help my mom decorate her tree. She still puts ornaments on it my brother and I made when we were four. I'm 27 and my brother is 29. My favorite is a Santa that I colored in. cut out and stapled to a straw. The xeroxed fax doesn't even exist anymore, yet it still goes on the tree.

3) NYC at Christmas is a must. I'm lucky to live an hour and a half outside of the city. I just have to jump in the car or catch a train and in a short time I'm standing at Rockefeller Center looking up at the most famous Christmas tree. It's been a tradition since I was a little kid. My parents always made sure to bring me in to see the tree and the windows. People get so excited about the tree they forget to mention the window displays. All the major department stores deck their windows out in holiday decor. Every year they have a different theme and every year I gaze at them like a wide eyed child. Rockefeller Center and the major department stores aren't the only places that show off for the holiday. All over the city you will find life size displays and gorgeous lights. I love to go in early and walk around for hours until the sun sets and then head to Rockefeller Center. Other stops: FAO Schwartz, Toys R Us in Times Square and Central Park.

4) Christmas Movies. All kinds. Big Blockbusters and made for TV movies. My DVR is smoking from all the recording it has been doing for the past couple of weeks. If it is about Christmas then it is for me. ABC Family, The Hallmark Channel and Lifetime are pretty much the only channels my TV are on through the month of December. A few of my favorites:

5) Christmas Eve. I'm Italian and in my family Christmas Eve is bigger than Christmas day. Christmas Eve the entire family gets together. We used to celebrate at my grandparent's house, but as my grandma got older it was too much for her, so my mom took over. Now every year Christmas Eve is at my parent's house. Italian tradition calls for fish on Christmas Eve, some people know it as the Feast of the Seven Fishes. My mom cooks for hours. Making tilapia, lobster tails, scallops, baked clams, shrimp and someone usually brings baccala, and some type of octopus salad (I won't eat either). Other food we have on the table for Christmas Eve: eggplant parm, vegetables, potato croquettes, stuffed artichokes and I know I am missing so much more. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it.

So what traditions do you have?