Christmas is a magical time of year and it is a time to make memories. Families all over the world celebrate Christmas with certain traditions. Some are fun and festive and others are just plain weird.  However, we all have our traditions we love and here are a few from our friends here in Amarillo.

I'll start with my family tradition and this was something we started probably 10 years ago, every Chirstmas Eve night we have tamales for dinner (I make sure my mom orders the most amazing bean and cheese tamales every made and of course regular) and E opens up one Christmas gift (usually PJs but not this year).  Then on Christmas morning after everyone wakes up and gets Santa's gifts we all pile into the kitchen and eat sausage balls while waiting on my brother and family to get to the house.  Then we have a big meal which has nothing to do with turkey or ham or the traditional Christmas meal.  Yes we eat a lot at Christmas.

Sarah says, "Every other year we skip all the stress and the pile of gifts and spend it in Angel Fire at the family time share! We only take a small tree and a few gifts up.

Erica continues a tradition that started with her grandmother, "We have to have black olives! Our great grandma always had them as a snack for the holidays!"

Christy's family tradition is "we always pick one evening close to Christmas to drive around looking at Christmas lights while drinking hot cocoa/coffee and listening to Christmas music!"

Martha's family tradition is to bake fun and festive cookies on Christmas Eve to leave out for Santa.

Alexis said that when they lived in Minnesota, "I would wake up my kids about 6 and take them sledding down hospital hill in Bagley, Minnesota, but I wouldn't trade the weather for nothing I love it here, [in Amarillo]."

CHRISTMAS EVE GIFT:
The Christmas Eve Gift is a tradition in several families I know. How it works is the first person to call Grandma's house on Christmas Eve get the special Chrstimas Eve Gift that night. It's a fun family tradition and Grandma (and/or Grandpa) usually get woken up really early.

THE CHRISTMAS PICKLE:
I found out about the Christmas Pickle in a weird way. One of my friends was leaving the country for 2-years and I wanted to give him something strange to remember me. So I found a pickle ornament. Little did I know, a tradition hid behind that ornament. Some say the tradition started in Germany but no one really knows for sure where the Christmas Pickle started. The Christmas Pickle is actually an ornament that is the last to be hung on the Christmas tree. The first person to find the pickle on the tree on Christmas Morning gets a extra gift. Over the year's I have seen more and more families using the Christmas Pickle.

We would love to hear about your Christmas Tradition!  Who knows, you might help start a Christmas tradition for another family.

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