Thursday, December 16, 2010

Christmas Wouldn't Be Complete Without...

Over at Stacy's blog, she's playing a little game today. List 5 things that Christmas wouldn't be complete without. Here's my list!

  • My mom's delicious cookies and squares. She starts baking the beginning of November and stores up for the holidays. This year, she gave me a tin to keep in my freezer and share with my friends and co-workers. I ticked her off by telling her she ruined my favourite Christmas shortbread cookies by throwing dried fruit in them, but truthfully, I'm in love with my mom's baking. I'm sure all of us have favourites that our moms or grandmas make. It's a tradition at our house to sneak down to the basement and steal a few before the big day!!

  • The Big Christmas Morning Breakfast Battle. For years, my family has been trying to get this tradition right. But it would appear our tradition is just fighting over what the "right way" is to do it. When we were little, we ate brekky after presents. Now that we're older, we've started eating a little before and a little after. (We'll see if we can restrain Caden and Danica this year...) My mom used to slave over a frying pan making bacon and eggs for everyone, and usually spent much of the time complaining that it was such a mess and the egg yolks would break and it was a real pain in the ass for her. So a few years back, she started making "Wife Beater". (More commonly known as Wife Saver, but we never call it that.) It's a breakfast casserole made of bread, eggs, bacon, onion, peppers, and cheese. Mom can make it the night before and toss it in the over a half-hour before it's time to eat, whenever that may be. It's easy and it's deeeelish. The problem? My sister doesn't eat eggs. And my brother, bro-in-law, and dad don't like it. The only thing we seem to agree on is Mom's sticky buns. They get eaten before presents because no one can resist diving into the sugary, sticky goodness. I can guarantee the rest of it will be another battle this year.

  • Watching Miracle on 34th Street on Christmas Eve afternoon. It's just me. Nobody else in my family cares. But for me, Christmas Eve day is, quite possibly, the longest day of the year, waiting for church and the party afterwards. So for the past 15 years, I've been watching Miracle on 34th Street in the afternoon to kill some time. It's one of my favourite Christmas movies of all-time, and I save it for Christmas Eve every year.

  • "Silent Night", played by Rolly on guitar at the end of Christmas Eve service. With the lights off, candles lit, and everyone singing softly...it's pure Christmas magic.

  • The Coconut Song...Young Family tradition, usually sung at least 13 times on Christmas Eve. I hope we still get to sing it this year :)


Cousin Chris didn't make it home from TO for Christmas last year, so he actually called us just so we could sing The Coconut Song to him. This is cousin Bucky holding the phone up so he could hear!!

7 comments:

Lindsay said...

That is a great list Jill! Im laughing at the thought of your Christmas breakfast battle. I agree with you, Rolly's version of Silent Night will always be on my list! xo

Stacy said...

Great list - much better than mine! So the breakfast...its a time saver but its only you and mom that eat it??? LOL

Sharon said...

We make waffles Christmas morning with fruit. They're easy to make yummy to eat.

Jill said...

Stace - that's why Mom is now saying she's not making it anymore, because only she & I eat it. Who knows what this year will bring. I might suggest waffles :)

Nicole said...

and the Coconut Song is??

Jill said...

Nicole - Ever seen The Lion King? When Zazu sings "I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts" ?? That was my family anthem long before he sang it. I don't know when or why it started, but on Christmas Eve, we sing it lots. We sing it loud. We stomp our feet and shout "ONE MORE TIME!!!!" over and over and over again.

If it occurs this year, I will try to get a video of it and I'll post. There's really no way to believe it unless you see it yourself.

nancy said...

I want to see and hear your Mom singing the Coconut Song Jillian!!!Rolly singing Silent Night is one of my favorite things. I am always scared of screwing up that part of the service becuase I have been told many times that Jared will be upset if it isn't done properly. Yikes!!!I am already having sweaty palms about that one!!

I usually bake a few kinds of muffins for breakfast but last year Livvie made waffles which were delicious! Your Mom is an awesome baker, just plain awesome at everything.You are awesome too!