- My mom's delicious cookies and squares. She starts baking the beginning of November and stores up for the holidays. This year, she gave me a tin to keep in my freezer and share with my friends and co-workers. I ticked her off by telling her she ruined my favourite Christmas shortbread cookies by throwing dried fruit in them, but truthfully, I'm in love with my mom's baking. I'm sure all of us have favourites that our moms or grandmas make. It's a tradition at our house to sneak down to the basement and steal a few before the big day!!
- The Big Christmas Morning Breakfast Battle. For years, my family has been trying to get this tradition right. But it would appear our tradition is just fighting over what the "right way" is to do it. When we were little, we ate brekky after presents. Now that we're older, we've started eating a little before and a little after. (We'll see if we can restrain Caden and Danica this year...) My mom used to slave over a frying pan making bacon and eggs for everyone, and usually spent much of the time complaining that it was such a mess and the egg yolks would break and it was a real pain in the ass for her. So a few years back, she started making "Wife Beater". (More commonly known as Wife Saver, but we never call it that.) It's a breakfast casserole made of bread, eggs, bacon, onion, peppers, and cheese. Mom can make it the night before and toss it in the over a half-hour before it's time to eat, whenever that may be. It's easy and it's deeeelish. The problem? My sister doesn't eat eggs. And my brother, bro-in-law, and dad don't like it. The only thing we seem to agree on is Mom's sticky buns. They get eaten before presents because no one can resist diving into the sugary, sticky goodness. I can guarantee the rest of it will be another battle this year.
- Watching Miracle on 34th Street on Christmas Eve afternoon. It's just me. Nobody else in my family cares. But for me, Christmas Eve day is, quite possibly, the longest day of the year, waiting for church and the party afterwards. So for the past 15 years, I've been watching Miracle on 34th Street in the afternoon to kill some time. It's one of my favourite Christmas movies of all-time, and I save it for Christmas Eve every year.
- "Silent Night", played by Rolly on guitar at the end of Christmas Eve service. With the lights off, candles lit, and everyone singing softly...it's pure Christmas magic.
- The Coconut Song...Young Family tradition, usually sung at least 13 times on Christmas Eve. I hope we still get to sing it this year :)
Cousin Chris didn't make it home from TO for Christmas last year, so he actually called us just so we could sing The Coconut Song to him. This is cousin Bucky holding the phone up so he could hear!!
