I do realise I’m posting this after Christmas, but I wanted to include it in my tradition series, without having to wait a whole year to do so.
This is a tradition we have had since Gary and I shared our first Christmas together in our very own flat. It has changed a little, accommodating the growth in our family, but has basically occurred like clockwork for the past decade and a half.
Sixteen years ago we begun our Christmas eve celebrations by making some ginger cookies, icing them together, whilst a pork roast cooked in the oven. When we were ready to eat we would snuggle up in our living room, roast on lap, newly decorated biscuits for pud and the Muppet’s Christmas Carol. And it is at this point I am unsure whether I ought to be blushing a little, because we had no children, no real excuse for watching what is essentially a children’s film; we watched it because it was truly good. And we have watched the same film each year since then.
Nowadays I buy in some ginger bread men and some animal biscuits and we have a competition to see who can make the best manger/ Christmas story scene from these biscuits and the copious amounts of icing provided. This was the first year that all five children joined in, and the first time A5 really understood what was required of her. Everyone did a brilliant job and there was much banter going round the table:
And last but not least, mine:
It was left to me to judge. Of course I chose mine, but after much moaning from everyone about the apparent unfairness of that, I reluctantly changed my decision to A5, who I thought did a sterling job!
Whilst the pork joint roasted in the range, the Christmas pyjama packages were handed out. Pyjamas are the children’s main present at Christmas, so it is a highly anticipated event:
Each year we attempt to buy pyjamas for all of us that are similar in nature. Last year they all had the Carlisle pattern, this year they were all panda onesies:
And didn’t we all look a treat? Yes, even mummy and daddy had their very own panda onesie. And yes, we really did look like Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. We even argued which one would be Dee and which one would be Dum(b)!!
Once we were all dressed up, roast at the ready, we popped on our favourite Christmas DVD and settled down on the couch to sing along to the very excellent Muppet’s Christmas Carol (below is the trailer – you can download the whole movie for 99p from YouTube):
Happy sigh…..
Yay! You are back! I owe you an e-mail. Been chaos… one of those character forming experiences you get when you ask God for more patience / wisdom / courage…. never to be prayed lightly let me tell you. Love your traditions and I love the gorgeous manger scenes. I had to take a second look at that pic of you and A5! Your twins are an absolute copy of you!! My word… and you are all beautiful!
Ooooh, hi Leizel! (imagine me jumping up and down with excitement – actually, I’m not, but it is lovely to hear from you!) How are you? Have you settled in your little home, ALL of you together? I know it must have been a tricky feat, but I’m sure well worth it in the end. I was praying for you each time I thought about you moving so close to Christmas.
I’ll just bet 2014 will be one of the most specialist years for you. I do hope so.xxx
Lovely tradition! I especially like the photo in all your onesies!
LOL! Thank you.
I thought the picture of you was one of the twins, too! You seem to be getting younger! Lovely pic of T11 icing his biscuits, too.
Ha! I’m 40 this year, and feel every single year of it….No grey hairs yet, I’ve got that particular joy waiting round the corner. And I’m a year older than Gary, so he is going to be unbearable for the next year whilst I’m in my forties and he remains in his thirties!!
What a fun tradition! I just love those manger scenes 🙂
Hi Marie! How are you? I hope you had a lovely relaxing Christmas and New Year. Hoping this year will be wonderful for you.
Thank you Claire, we are having a couple of days to relax 🙂 The onesies are adorable by the way, had to show the girls and they swooned 🙂 And they look so cozy!
What a fun tradition. I am sure everyone must look forward to it with great anticipation! I, too, thought you were one of the twins:)
You are not the only family with grown-ups who enjoy the Muppet movies.
Thanks for sharing. Have a grand day, Claire.
Laughing at me looking like my twins. People always say that yet I have dark blond, naturally curly hair, whilst my twins have nearly black, dead straight hair. There must be an essence about them that is similar to me!
Have a wonderful day, Donna!
Psst…what’s the weather like at the moment? We’ve had floods over here and people very near to us have had three plus feet of water inside their homes. We are on high ground so weren’t really affected.
Never blush at watching A Muppets Christmas Carol, that film is amazing! I’ve watched it for years but I can’t seem to get Nibsy interested.
Love the Panda onesies!
I would really love the Jolly Phonics resources you mentioned. I think maybe there’s an issue at the moment with my yahoo email address so I don’t know if you want to try dropping me a line on debbiebooo@gmail.com when you have a spare moment 🙂
You know, I LOVE my panda onesie. I look utterly ridiculous in it, but find it so comfortable that I have been known to wear all day! (Shhh, don’t tell anyone!)
I’ll email you later today and get them sent off. I have, I think, all the reading books (there are lots and lots!) and most if not all of the flash cards. I did have a lotto game and puzzle that I got from the charity shop but they were incomplete so were got rid of in my decluttering process! Anyway, you’re welcome to all I’ve got.
Confession, I watch the Muppet Christmas Carol every year the day after Thanksgiving here, which means it’s not even December yet. This has been my tradition for at least as long as I’ve been married, and I have a vague memory of watching it at my Mom’s house before I was married while I was still in college. So you are not alone.
We have Christmas jammies too, but the kids usually get them somewhat earlier than Christmas Eve. This year I think we got them all the way back in October because the boys saw some they absolutely loved.
Love it! Christmas pyjamas in October!! I’m going to attempt to make ours this year, only I’m not very, very good with a needle and thread. Ah well, I’ll try anything once!
Reblogged this on angelicscalliwags and commented:
It’s so cold this year that we might just do this a few weeks early so we can spend the rest of December home schooling in onsies 🙂
We always do Christmas Eve Jammies too. We also open the Christmas ornament packages on Christmas eve, too.