We spent our Christmas and New Year's Eve at my in-laws' beach house. My daughters surprised their grandparents by decorating the fruitcake that my mother-in-law baked to look like their miniature Schnauzer, Ziggy. The girls are so creative! The only person missing from the festivities was our son, Jeremiah. We decided to take Christmas to him. We had a picnic with him outside of his tiny studio apartment. My mother-in-law organized most of it.
Do you have a special Christmas Eve or Christmas Day tradition? My mother-in-law has one that I think is unique to her. Every year she uses a tumbleweed for her Christmas tree. She decorates it instead of a fir tree because we are in South Africa and it's more natural to our environment. You can see the tumbleweed in the photo below.
Do you open all of your presents on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning? We always open one present each on Christmas Eve and then the rest on Christmas morning. As far as traditions go, it's not that unusual. Lots of people do so for different reasons. My parents decided to let my brother and me open one present on Christmas Eve because of our mixed roots and I have kept that tradition. My mom was born in Brazil to a Brazilian mother and an Austrian father. Later my grandmother remarried a German man. A few of my cousins are Swiss. I spent many Christmases in Germany with my grandparents and a few in Switzerland with my cousins. Brazil, Austria, Germany, and Switzerland (along with several other countries) open all of their presents on Christmas Eve. My parents are both Americans, so opening presents on Christmas morning was our tradition. My South African husband was also raised with Christmas morning being the day.
Did you know that in Iceland they open all of their presents on Christmas Eve and the best Christmas gift is a book? I love the Icelandic tradition of gifting books on Christmas Eve. I don't need much of an excuse to spend the night reading. It's called the Christmas Book Flood. You can read more about it here.
Christmas Eve
Christmas Day
New Year's Eve
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Blue Sailboat and Purple Lavender
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