This year I am super excited to participate in the indieBRAG Christmas Blog Hop. My first book, The Shoes Come First, was awarded the coveted indieBRAG medallion. After you read about my fun family traditions, please click the link to see how other indieBRAG award winners celebrate Christmas around the world.
Family Traditions
My family has many traditions. I thought I would share two of my favorites with you.
First, there must be a tree with all the trimmings and I will I admit I have a Christmas tree obsession. When my husband and I were first married, I bought a perfectly flocked Christmas tree at a wholesale warehouse. It was 25 feet tall (I am from Texas) and had pine cones in just the right places. It was a gorgeous tree. Although, it took me three days to put on the decorations and lights, I loved that tree. Eventually we donated it to a church and went for the pre-lit tree. Today, I have at least five trees in my house.
The second family tradition is our official family outing.
Every year my mom scours the newspaper, websites and blogs for the perfect family outing. The son-in-laws refer to this as the Triple F (forced family fun). They gather together at the local pub to plot out their excuses for not attending family fun time. My dad is usually leading this pack of fun wreckers. My mom continues her planning, confident everyone will be in attendance.
We’ve had many adventures in our Triple F. We have been on carriage rides around many city squares, toasted marshmallows at various Christmas in the parks, and witnessed the birth of Christ in many religious performances (musical and prose).
There was the Christmas we saw Elvis and his Christmas musical. Unfortunately, the smoke alarms went off during the performance and we had to evacuate until the firemen could clear the building. This ill-fated episode threw Elvis off his mojo and he relapsed into a version of Hard to Handle by The Black Crows.
One of my favorite productions was How the Grinch Stole Christmas. The actor that played the Grinch was extraordinary. The musical was held in the Winspear opera house. It’s a magnificent reinterpretation of the traditional “horseshoe” shaped opera house, engineered specifically for performance of opera and musical theatre. The Grinch rocked the house.
Our group has experienced many ice capades, ice castles, ice sledding and ice skating. This is a real feat in Texas, the land of little snow. But somehow my wonder-mom prevailed and found her grandchildren some snow (mostly ice).
We have also conquered many train rides. There were trains with Santa, trains pulled by reindeer, trains that changed from Thanksgiving to Christmas, and trains that took a really, really long time to reach their destination.
This year Grandma turned 91 (she doesn’t look a day over 65). I think the reasons behind her youthful appearance are, she is from Scotland and her diet consists of tea and chocolate. We are celebrating her ascent to the supernatural 100 with Dallas by Chocolate, a party bus tour of the Christmas lights of Dallas. I am looking forward to this treat, because in addition to viewing the wondrous lights, our magic Christmas bus stops at three chocolatiers. You will have to check back for the pics and highlights of our Triple F 2015.
After all the trains, carriages, musicals, ice, Christmas trees and Elvis, the first thing my children say when they come home for college break is, “I can’t wait for Triple F.”
Thanks to my mom for starting such a memorable family tradition.
Please check out the next stop on the indieBRAG Christmas Blog Hop is today, December 20 with Maria Grace
Hope you and your family have a very Happy Holiday!
Forever Crazy,
Janet Leigh
