Starlight's Christmas Tradition

This was a Christmas Tradition for years when the kids were young. I would turn my basement into a craft area, decorate it for Christmas with a tree, and then invite all of my sisters and brothers to drop their kids off from noon till 8 pm. I would have all kinds of things planned for them to do - decorate the tree with ornaments that they each made, decorate a gingerbread house, decorate cookies, 1 to eat and some to take home, all the while listening to our favorite Christmas music. My two girls enjoyed this so much as well as my siblings. We got to see all the kids, and the parents got to go finish up their Christmas shopping, or wrapping.

Then I would set up my formal dining room so that we could all sit together (there were usually 12 of us) and I would serve a simple dinner they would all eat, like mac and cheese and chicken fingers, with a special holiday ice cream dessert. Then we would pile the kids into our 2 vehicles, and my husband and I would take a tour of the nearby neighborhoods to look at Christmas lights with them. When we returned, we took a picture of all the kids together and these have become cherished memories for all the kids as well as the adults.

I also bought each of them a gift and they would unwrap these right before the parents came to pick them up. A wonderful day was had by all. We would invite the grandmas to come be a part of it all as well. We did this for 6 straight years and really miss those days, but now that the grandmas have passed and the kids are all grown it is a cherised memory that we all will have forever.

By Starlight from North Platte, NE