My Dad's Hats.

Ready to hand out gifts in the morning.

We inherited his red hat first when he

was tired of it and found a green one.

Now we have both and dh plays Santa!

~ Chy

Love, Forever.

Dh and I have had a tradition since we were

both 18 years old and newly in love. We both

sign cards to each other, for any season and

any kind of celebration with "love, forever."

It's our little thing ....

~ Chy

Capturing: Day 22.

A small tree with our sweet babies

names on it. Our babies in Heaven.

The turret holds the big tree, where all

the fun and memories are created. The

living room holds a place for reflection

in the light, and tears in the dark. This

is now our tradition each Christmas.

And we wouldn't have it any other way.

~ Chy

Tradition.

I have a little tradition that started the year we had our first baby, our now eldest daughter. She was such a good baby and napped each afternoon. All my new mommy friends would tell me how they would use nap time as "me time" and hang out on their couches to watch soaps all afternoon. I discovered quickly that because she slept so well, at night too, that I wasn't the exhausted mama I thought I was supposed to be. So I used the afternoons to get things done while she slept. Our mornings were often quiet .... a walk to our little park or a morning out to a fitness class with friends, or shopping. Afternoons were different. While she napped the afternoon away, I would tidy the house, do laundry, create dinner, make lists and take care of anything I could so we could have our evenings with dh. But I found it too quiet, so I did get in to a habit to turn on the tv, very low volume but just enough to hear some voices. I found Coronation Street was on each day at 2 p.m. and loved my British show that I had grown up on. But could not, no matter how hard I tried get in to the American soaps. She would go down right around 1, so I discovered a show called "Days Of Our Lives" and while I didn't get into the story lines, I did fall in love with their Christmas Tradition. If you've seen the show, you'll know what I'm talking about but I'll describe.

The family gathers at the home of the elders and they each place a Christmas ball on the tree with their name on it. Any family members who have died over the year get a special mention and their ball is placed by a loved one. Such a nice way to decorate the tree together. Every year since, I've watched only this episode, as the days of dear daughter napping long ago ended. And with the addition of each child since then, our tv was rarely on during the day, except for the Christmas episode each year. And this year, we all watched it together, as you can see above. Fun! We may even start this tradition, if we can find some nice Christmas balls for our tree. And glitter! A lovely tradition.

~ Chy

Christmas Cards.

A tradition we love to do is writing

and sending out Christmas Cards.

Although each year, there are less

cards coming through our mailbox,

we have decided to continue to send

ours out. I love receiving greetings

from family and friends, both with cards

and online cards. Both are cherished.

Calendar Tradition.

There is something healing and refreshing about

sitting in the warm sunshine, in our cozy home,

filling out my 2017 calendar with special dates,

new projects, future travels, inspiring hopes and

precious dreams. My most favorite after Christmas 

tradition since I was a small child with a calendar.

Do you have any favorite after Christmas traditions?

Do you enjoy filling in a new calendar each year?