For many years, my family did the following: - My children and I went as a family to choose our tree on the first weekend in December and brought it home and decorated it. I did lights and tinsel and then the kids hung up the ornaments. Each child hung any ornaments that had been given to them or made by them in previous years and they shared hanging the "family" ones. I also hung a couple ornaments myself that were particular favorites and had been gifts. (In the earliest years, I also "re-dispersed" the ornaments hung by the children so that there were at least a few near the top!!) - Christmas Eve was spent with extended family (usually 60+ strong) at someone's home or eventually a clubhouse we rented due to the growth of our family. We had a pot-luck dinner and exchanged gifts from names drawn earlier. Lately, with economic times being tougher, we started doing smaller token gifts like ornaments. - After the extended family Christmas Eve, we went to the Candlelight Sevice at church. - Presents were opened on Christmas morning as soon as daylight appeared ("dawn" rule was made because Mom is a procrastinator and tended to wrap until the wee hours of Christmas Eve and I needed some sleep!). I always did stockings for each child - even when the were grown and those were opened first (each item individually wrapped to draw it out a bit!!). We tried to open the gifts one at a time, but were not always successful! So Santa's gifts were always wrapped in solid red paper with white bows and the kids were allowed to "tear into" them and we slowed it down a bit when it came to the others. - After presents, Mom cooked a big breakfast and then everyone tended to drift back to their beds to catch up on missed sleep. When my parents were alive, we went to their house Christmas afternoon. My children are now grown, and there are many pulls for their time on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning. So I have changed my traditions accordingly. So for the past few years: - Any of us who can will go to the extended family celebration on Christmas Eve (some of the children have spouses or significant others with similar family events, so they are alternating years with ours). - Afterward, anyone who is available goes together to the Candlelight Church Service. - Christmas morning is left to be celebrated at each individual home if desired. When my children eventually have their own kids, they will have this time to celebrate at home with them so that Santa can come to the children's own home and they will be tucked up in their own beds. This allows the parents to come up with their own traditions, ie cookies for Santa, reading of books, etc. For now, with no grandbabies, my children can still come to our house Christmas Eve night and be there for the morning if they choose... but we are doing it differently! - We are no longer doing the dawn rush for presents as there are no small children waiting eagerly for Santa. Instead, we allow everyone to sleep alittle later and I still do the big Christmas breakfast about 9am for anyone staying here or joining us. - In years past, Christmas evening tended to be somewhat of a "let-down" with the presents already opened and all the holiday merry-making coming to an end...and I was so exhausted from getting up at dawn and wrapping till whenever that I did not do a real "Christmas Dinner". So now Christmas evening is when we have our family Christmas celebration. In late afternoon (3p-4p) we have a big Christmas dinner with the best china and all the trimmings. This time-frame allows time for anyone needing to be other places in the morning or midday for other celebrations. Anyone staying home can help decorate cookies or assist with dinner or just watch football etc! I have asked the children to dress up for our Christmas Dinner and make it a bit more formal now that they are grown and I think they actually enjoy it! I asked for "nicer clothes" but now I see even suits and party dresses... and I love it since we rarely have dressy occassions and it makes for wonderful photos!! - After dinner, we open some wine, snack on desserts and goodies, take photos, talk, and play games...just be together till about 8pm. I like to wait till dark because the tree and lights and candles are so much more beautiful. Where my focus used to be on piles of morning gifts, I now spend my energy on the food and decorations...making it a warm, loving evening with lots of old fashioned, traditional charm. Tons of candles, a fire in the fireplace, soft Christmas music, and way too many sweets (I love to bake!) - Finally, we exchange gifts. Having changed the focus of our Christmas celebration, and also the "quantity" of gifts we give, we open them one at a time with everyone watching to make each one more special. I feel it returns us to the days when people selected one or two gifts for a person and they were very special with alot of thought put into each gift and maybe even doing some special wrapping...rather than the flood of gifts I gave the kids each year. We sat down a few years ago and discussed it as a family, so no one was disappointed on Christmas(well not too much!!). It was at first an economic decision, but I think it has challenged everyone to make more of an effort to choose special gifts with real meaning for each other. - After gifts, we continue the wine and goodies and games until people need to go home (only if they skipped the wine!) or retire here for the night. - The other side of our family celebrates the first Sunday AFTER Christmas, so this allows the holiday to flow alittle smoother! I am please with the new changes we have made and hope that it allows my children (and eventually their families) to celebrate Christmas together yet not feel stressed by being pulled in so many directions at the same time! Merry Christmas!!

So glad you had such a special birthday this year & that your honey remembered you! That was best gift. My dad wanted to buy mom a card for her birthday this Jan. I told him I would get it, he is housebound, he struggled to sign it "I Love You Honey" went from far left to far right of card. Mom cried when she opened it! These things are so important especially when you have been together for a long time. (70 yrs May 12 for my folks) Hope the meds are very helpful & you will get many more treasured days with your honey! Happy Birthday! Jan

My SIL called this morning and described a 'drive-up' birthday she had gone to last Friday. About nine social distancing cars pulled up to the birthday boy's house (he was 80 Friday), parked, honked. (afternoon, not evening). They took turns getting out and tying balloons, leaving cards at the driveway mailbox. Then, keeping far enough apart, they sang happy birthday and waved, clapped for him on his porch. And left again, she said the whole exercise took about 12 minutes. Arranged by his wife.

Sleevendog, the wonderful thing about belated Birthday well-wishes is that they extend the happiness : ) And thank you both (Islay, too) for the Charcuterie Definition. I didn’t know the French pronunciation, but doubt I’ll use it here, or even the word charcuterie. Most here would think me pretentious, which is silly as I like to use words correctly. So, does this mean if I make canadian bacon or pastrami (from pork), I can (temporarily) call myself a Charcutier? LOL! Well, I just might anyway! Sleevendog, thank you also for mentioning the free-edge/live-edge board. That was my gift to myself : ) I think it’s so beautiful! I often toss together a board (the bread board above was from an old restaurant, the charcuterie with live edge from Etsy) of cheeses, crackers, meats, apples, grapes… whatever I have on hand, for pre-dinner snacking, or lunch nibbling. I wanted a larger, prettier board than the bread board : ) Funny thing is, when I bought my first furniture, the area in which I lived had tons of furniture with free-edging/live edging (horizontal slice tree trunks, vertical slabs). And they were cheap! And huge! I bought a large one for my coffee table on a major budget. New! After a while, the area was over-saturated with them, and I couldn’t give mine away when upgrading. Truth! So when they first came out, it took me a while to not see them as ‘cheap’ stuff! I have learned a new appreciation… everything old is new again : ) I think it looks both rustic and fine, simultaneously. I am a wood grain lover. And while I have your attention, those flageolet beans? Amazing. We can’t stop eating them on salads. I’m making some with leftover too-salty ribs, shredded, and roasted tomatoes next. Mercurygirl, you sound like me, I’ve moved several plants, including roses. Hard to keep up with where they are until they leaf out or bloom! Naturegirl, you are most welcome! Edie, I have one of those rolling pins! So heavy! I am sure you can roll it out thin enough. I would recommend a few things… if using crackers for cheeses, don’t add cheese to the cracker dough, just make them as is, and perhaps toss in some dried herbs (the flavor of dried herbs does come through) as appropriate. If serving with a soup, or alone, cheese tastes wonderful : ) Annie, don’t do what I did, though, and over prep/cook! I was feeling a bit frazzled by the time the day rolled around! But yes, making lots of nibbles satisfies everyone. And they can be easy ones. BTW, your hummus was wonderful! Thank you! I froze some, and hope that’s ok.