Christmas is less than a week away and people are still running around like chickens with their heads cut off; bringing in the Christmas trees and decorating it, building gingerbread houses, and of course “getting ready for Santa Claus”. All of these are great traditions, but in my house, we have different traditions. This is what Christmas looks like in the Price Household.

*Christmas Eve*

This is when we set up for Christmas dinner. We may do some last-minute decorating, and preparation for the most bomb food that we will eat all year. This may include injecting the turkey with seasoning, preparing the macaroni and cheese (glory be to God), and anything else that includes mass preparation.

*Christmas Day*

Wake up around 9-10 a.m., even though my mom is probably already up, and start to help her cook, because dinner is probably around 3 p.m.

Eventually, I will turn on TBS to watch “A Christmas Story” for the rest of the day. My mother will get mad because I will refuse to change the channel, but I will not budge.

Around 1:30 p.m. – 2 p.m., we pick the grandparents up to come to our house and then we start laying out the food, buffet style.

Around 3:30 p.m. everyone arrives and we finally eat dinner. This is the second-best thing to Thanksgiving. The menu usually consists of greens, stuffing, macaroni and cheese, sweet potatoes, salmon, rice, string beans, casseroles, rolls, cornbread, punch, cheesecake, German-chocolate cake, and of course fried turkey…the list goes on and on. The idea is not that we will probably look like we are about to have another child when we are finished, but that the food will be amazing.

After we have finished stuffing our pants and getting the itis, we may engage in some form of entertainment such as playing Family Feud, Pokeno, or Charades.

Around 7-8p.m. we take the grandparents home, and the guests leave, all except for a few guests who can never tell when it is time to leave. This is when we finally open up presents and become mesmerized about what we got. If we really feel lit, we may go see a new movie or ride around to see Christmas lights.

Finally, we clean up, may possibly eat some leftovers, and then get ready for the next day, Dec. 26, The Day After Christmas, my dad’s birthday.

As you can see, Christmas is truly the most wonderful time of the year. I personally love it because of family, joy, and of course the food that comes along with the holiday. This clearly is a different tradition than what most families do, but traditions start within families, not television or what you see in movies. Whatever traditions in your family that you hold dear, embrace them and cherish them because these are golden times.