Christmas with the Tenney's

One of the things I love about my mom so much, is that she always made Christmas very special for my sisters and I. She had a good 20+ years to hone and perfect Christmastime, before she and my dad separated, and I will always cherish those memories...

Trimming the tree
When my parents were first married, money was very tight, so my mom hand-painted all of our ornaments. Most people don't know that my mom is actually a very talented artist. To this day her little mouse asleep in a nutshell is one of my all-time favorites.

Trimming the tree, was a sacred ritual. My mom would lovingly unwrap each ornament from it's tissue paper, and give them to us to place wherever we liked. As we got older, my mom splurged and bought some really nice coordinated ornaments, but I secretly liked our mismatched ones best. My favorite year, my parents bought a live tree (which we later planted in our backyard). It was a Weeping Blue Atlas Cedar, and we called it the "Dr. Seuss tree".Holiday treats
My mom's Christmas Eve dinner is legendary. Every year we had the same thing: Chicken Cordon Bleu, stuffed mushrooms, cornflake potatoes, and orange rolls; topped off with a bottle of Martinelli's Sparkling Cider. My mom always got out her nicest dishes, fancy tablecloth, drippy candles, holiday centerpiece, and created a glowing ambiance of Christmas wonder. Dessert was always spectacular, but as kids we liked her "snowballs" the best. (For my mom's famous stuffed mushroom recipe, please visit Cupcake Chowder).Movies and music
Our family's all-time favorite Christmas CD (which was a cassette tape back-in-the-day) is titled Blossoms in the Snow by a little-known artist named Radhika Miller. It is a compilation of traditional English carols, set to harp, flute, and mandolin. It has a very Renaissance feel to it, and I don't know why, but it just became the "go-to" album for our family. We also liked Christmas with Gisele by Gisele MacKenzie, and Christmas is for Kids by Nat King Cole. Surprisingly, our family doesn't have a particular favorite holiday movie, but I do remember watching Mickey's Christmas Carol and How the Grinch Stole Christmas a lot with my sisters. My mom really likes the movie Scrooge starring Albert Finney.Decorations
Besides a wonderful hodgepodge of a tree, my mom did have a few decorations that were coordinated. She collected holiday candles and candle holders (which she displayed on the piano - and still has the scorch marks to prove it), as well as a beautiful assortment of Christmas tins. My favorite tin was a depiction of A Christmas Carol, complete with Scrooge, Bob Cratchit, and ghosts. Maybe it meant so much to me, because one year our Stake did a huge, lavish production of A Christmas Carol. My dad was Bob Cratchit, and I was Fan (Scrooge's sister from Christmas past). My mom sewed my costume, and I got to speak in a British accent, and even sang a duet with a really cute boy! Of course, my dad was the star of the show, and to this day I wish I had a recording of the play so I could remember the rest.Stories and rituals
My family loves reading and books, so my parents always found the best Christmas literature for us kids. And although we had a lot to choose from, two of my particular favorites are: Why Christmas Trees Aren't Perfect by Richard Schneider, and The Christmas Day Kitten by James Herriot. Both are wonderful stories, with beautiful illustrations, which I have added to my own personal collection.

My parents also made Christmas morning unique. My mom always had a delicious breakfast casserole waiting to go in the oven - which she would start before we opened gifts. We all had to wait until everyone was awake and ready before we were even allowed to see the presents, and my dad always made the biggest show of dragging his feet. We had to literally pull him out of bed, wait for him to go to the bathroom, plug in the lights, etc. He thought of every excuse in the book to prolong the wait, and it would only add to our mounting excitement. When I was younger, it really annoyed me, but now I can see he was just adding his own bit of fun to the chaos. My dad is also really amazing at calligraphy, and would always make the most beautiful Santa cards for each of us.Along with matching nightgowns, caroling, gift exchange, reading the Nativity story, sleepovers, and family parties, Christmas at our house was simply magical! I hope that someday my kids will look back and say the same about ours.

What are some of your favorite holiday traditions?