Holiday traditions...Amy

Well, you already know our extended family traditions. When Coult and I were first married, we didn't have very many tree ornaments or much money to buy any, so we bought those really yummy candy canes (cherry, strawberry, etc) and used them to decorate our tree. Over the years we have collected enough ornaments that we know longer need the candy canes, but Natalie and Lily still insist that we buy them every year and put them on the tree. We also enjoy baking cookies together and then secretly leaving them on the door-step of some of our friends. It's so much fun trying to get away without being seen! A couple of years ago we started a new tradition. We were trying to help our family to remember the true meaning of Christmas. Mom had given us a little manger and some straw that she got from somewhere and an activity that went with it. Basically, you put out the manger and a bag of straw and as each person in the family does a good deed for someone else in the family, they add a piece of straw to the manger to make it soft for baby Jesus. I was surprised at how much even Lily got into this. Everyone in the family was constantly looking for nice things they could do for others so that we could get the manger as soft as we could before Christmas. It really helped us remember the true meaning of Christmas.