Christmas Coffee & Other Things

          

This morning I was thinking about the holiday season and letting my mind wander over the things we actually do during the season to celebrate. And to my surprise some of the things we do are really frugal and meaningful because we only indulge in them during this one month.

Christmas coffee is one of them that we all like, especially the kids. it's just regular coffee served in a footed mug. I top it with a big mound of Reddi Whip [you know that squirt whipped cream you get from the dairy section]. Then I add multicolored sprinkles and sometimes a miniature candy cane as a stirrer.

Another thing we do at this time of the year is have marathon card and board game sessions. We like to play 'Oh Heck' and Mexican Train dominoes. We all love to sit at the big kitchen table and play games and snack all day and into the night as the holiday approaches.

One of the things I really love is antique paper ephemera- things like old post cards and greeting cards. When my GGMa died nobody wanted the huge collection she had of old Christmas cards. I snapped them up and framed alot of them. At this time of the year the year they sure make me reflect on family and the passage of time. Most are from the 30's and 40's....I even have a Christmas party invitation sent to my mother when she was a teenager in 1944. 

One of things we do on Christmas morning is to open one present at a time. It takes forever because we go around the room and watch as each person opens their one present...then the next person opens a present. Then we each go through our stockings last. Each stocking has mostly candy with one or two small 'mystery' presents. 

Usually on Christmas Eve we have some type of homemade seafood meal. Maybe steamed shrimp or oyster stew. With this we have a bottle of special 'fish' wine. Each person gets one small glass of this wine. I don't know the name of the wine, but it comes in a blue glass fish shaped bottle. I'm not a seafood lover, but everyone else is and I enjoy watching savor their meal. 

Then on Christmas morning we have a HUGE breakfast after gift opening. Jon says it is his favorite meal of the year. it's nothing out of the ordinary....just tons of food LOL. 

And of course I have Christmas music playing the whole month on my Kitchen CD player. Hutch mounted it under a cabinet for me so it is unobtrusive. I have amassed quite a collection of seasonal music CD's over the years and I have them on all the time during December.

So....that's what we do. None of it really costs very much. I've found that nobody really remembers most of the gifts they give or receive, but they do remember the little traditions and time spent with loved ones. That's what makes Christmas.