Tradition!

Tis the time of year to reminisce about the year gone by and the traditions we have kept in the past few days.
The short story:
As a church musician, my celebrations are intertwined with everyone else's desires for a meaningful Christmas Eve.  Every year is different.

The long story:
My daughter remembers each Christmas celebration because they are unique!  We've celebrated with real trees, artificial trees (large and small), poinsettias, and hand crafted replicas.  The most memorable was a craft paper tree (green,"lifted" from the supply room at school) taped to the wall.  Ornaments cut and pasted on it, and made very "life-like" with markers (HO HO HO).
We've celebrated on Christmas Eve (late) and Christmas Day (late, usually), and at everyone else's house, and in a hotel.  We've had guests from 2,000 miles away and from 6,000 miles away. We've had just the two of us (like this year). We tried Skyping but not with success.
This year I chose to vacation up to the end of October, and paid dearly for it during November and December.  When I walked in the door at 9:45 PM on December 24th the sweetest gift was my husband decking the table with Cornish Hen (full meal) and flowers.  He also placed and lit 7 luminarias (paper bags) in the driveway.  He's SUCH a keeper!!  Today (3+ days later) I'm starting to feel human again.  Planning for the future and all that!!

Ahhh.  Back to knitting...