With Thanksgiving in our rear view mirrors and Christmas just around the corner, I am realizing how important traditions are to me. Growing up, there were certain traditions that I guess I never knew how much they meant to me until I moved out and missed them. Luckily, I am able to still maintain some traditions that I grew up with and even get to create my own new ones as I grow old and have my own kids.

1. The Christmas tree does not go up until the weekend after Thanksgiving

This tradition is not necessarily my favorite tradition because I want to put my Christmas tree up right after Halloween but I understand it. I think society is tending to forget about Thanksgiving and they skip forward to Christmas. Its important to separate the holidays and I think by waiting until after Thanksgiving to put up the Christmas tree somehow shows respect for that holiday.

2. No Black Friday shopping with "the big girls" until the kids are 18+ years old

Although my family has always valued Thanksgiving and that time with family, the women also valued Black Friday maybe as much as Thanksgiving. When the tradition of Black Friday shopping began in my family, the adult women such as my stepmom, grandma, and aunts, would all head out to start shopping at the crack of dawn and they did not return until the crack of dawn the next day. With my dad being off work most Black Fridays, he was stuck in a house with four little girls. Being that most of us always wanted to go shopping with the females, my dad created our own tradition where he took all us girls Black Friday shopping too. Going shopping with my dad was always a hoot being that he is not much of a shopper already, but he still took us out. We would usually leave whenever dad was ready which was about 1:00 in the afternoon or later, and usually stayed out until midnight. While doing our shopping, we would find our gifts for my stepmom and ocassionallyy other family members. We always finished the night with a nice sit down supper and a ton of laughs. I believe that this tradition will always stick with me because of how enjoyable my dad made Black Friday and even when I have kids, I hope my kids will go Black Friday shopping with their dad.

3. Cookies and a cold one for Santa

I grew up leaving Santa cookies and a cold beer for majority of my childhood and I did not even know that most kids gave Santa cookies and milk. This tradition was oddly unique now that I look back but it faded as I grew up. I now know that I will forever leave Santa cookies and beer when I have my own kids, though.

4. Santa always comes after the annual Birt's Candy Store visit

On the 24th of December, my dad would always take the family to Birt's Candy Store to get any candy that we desired. Birt's was a local candy store that only has bulk candy out during the Christmas seasons so as kids we went wild for the famous Birt's candy. As I started to get older, I realized that when dad said it was time to go to Birt's, he really meant that Santa was coming to the house to deliver our presents. When all six of us would load into the truck with our candy, we knew that the best part of a child's Christmas was about to happen...presents! Santa always delivered our presents while we were at Birt's Candy Store and when we were back home, everyone sprinted to the house in hopes that the parents would finally hurry up and not lolly gag around like they did every year. The anticipation seemed to be unbearable as a really little kid but as I got older it became more fun than anything. This is always a tradition that I want to implement for my kids as well.

5. Christmas is celebrated on the 24th of December

Growing up, my dad always wanted to celebrate Christmas on the 24th instead of the 25th. Of course as a kid I was not going to argue opening up presents early but I did wonder why. Finally, I received and answer. My dad always opened his Christmas presents on the 24th as well because my grandparents wanted him to know the true meaning behind Christmas which was the birth of Jesus. My dad passed down the same tradition and that is that Christmas is not about the presents but about the birth of Jesus and spending that time with family. Unfortunately, Christmas is more of an advertisement for people to go shopping and it is becoming more about the presents and possessions but I still plan to teach my children the value of Christmas and pass this tradition down as well.

I am very grateful that I was able to grow up with such strong family values and traditions that I can proudly say I enjoyed and will still pass down. I find that traditions are slowly fading in today's families and I do not want that for my family. Of course I will eventually create my own traditions to add into the mix but these are the ones that make me the happiest this Christmas season and the ones that I will cherish forever.