Christmas in Dixie

This year for Christmas, we painstakingly made Daddy a photo book that features our family Christmases through the years.  For this little undertaking, I scanned countless old family photos and then collected digital photos from  my own collection as well as from Donna and Misty.  What I ended up with was over 400 family photos from Christmases since we were mere kiddos until present day.  That's a lot of family photos to weed through and make into a book.  

But what we ended up with was a new family treasure, if I do say so myself.   It also gave us a chance to take a walk down memory lane.  Here are some of my fondest memories of our Christmases in Dixie. 

1.  Baking goodies with Mama at Christmas- orange balls, fudge, no-bake choc oats, and Grandma's applesauce raisin cake (which I'm making this year)

2.  Visits from friends and family all day on Christmas Day

3.  Waking up early to see what Santa brought us.   One year I left a note for Santa asking him for his autograph, and I got it!  It was especially fancy- just like I thought it would be. 

4.  Hanging tinsel on the tree.  I was always really excited for that job, and no one ever contested my abilities. 

5.  Watching the Christmas classics on TV.  We were always glued to our seats for Rudolph and Frosty each year.  Since that time, the Lampoon's Christmas Vacation has become a new Christmas classic in our family.  In fact, for the past 10 years or so, Daddy always wears a Blackhawks hockey jersey on Christmas Day each year, a la Clark W. Griswold. 

6.  Checking our stockings for goodies.  I had a Mickey Mouse stocking.  Donna had Donald Duck.  I now have custody of both.  :)

7.  Donna's parodies of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas.  For several years, Donna created our own Harris Family versions of this familiar verse.  We've been lobbying lately to have her resurrect this tradition. 

8.  Helping wrap presents. There was no such thing as gift bags back in the day.  Everything was wrapped, even if it turned into Mission Impossible.  We all learned our expert wrapping abilities from our Mom.  Daddy wasn't too shabby either.  Stick on bows and curling ribbons were about the extent of our package decorations. 

9.  Christmas service at church.  There were always hymns to sing and a play to watch (or participate in).  One year, Mama was enlisted to draw all the barnyard animals for church's Nativity production.   She created the templates, and our uncle cut the wood to match them.   She was a wonderful artist, and they turned out beautifully.  Oh, and there were always goody bags to take home filled with apples, oranges, nuts and candy. 

10.  The love and laughter we shared.  Our family is MUCH bigger now.  And we have found ways to incorporate so many of these wonderful traditions into our own Christmases now.  

Christmas in Dixie, its snowing in the pines.

Merry Christmas from Dixie, to everyone tonight.
And from Roxboro, North Carolina..Merry Christmas tonight.