Christmas Goodies and Traditions

Thought I'd share with you all some of the fun things our family does and things I will do during the holiday season. And, of course, there's this year's gift haul:

• Klean Kanteen water bottle
• A Sigg bottle cleaning kit
• World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King
• Kung Fu Panda and Secrets of the Furious 5 DVDs
• Lionel train ornaments for next year's tree (unexpected bonus)
• A Christmas Ferris Wheel to start my Christmas Village next year (unexpected bonus)
• A Hallmark MistleToad (What? It was goofy and made me laugh)
• Some gift cards and help with the move to Florida

One of our longstanding family traditions is King Crab Legs on Christmas Eve. This came about one year while we were in Arizona cleaning out my grandfather's house. We stopped at a place called The Hungry Hunter near Yuma, and on a lark had King Crab Legs (a family favorite). Ever since, we've done this every year like clockwork.

Another tradition is to open one small gift on Christmas Eve as a bit of a warm up for the next day's main event.

One of my favorite traditions started in high school with getting a Klingon Bird of Prey light up ornament. Up until the last couple years, I've collected almost every Star Trek ship ornament there after. This past year, I started collecting the small moving ornaments that have trains or something themepark related about them. The folks ablidged with a light up Polar Express last year and a set of Lionel Diesel engine and passenger cars this year. Eventually, I plan to put a small steam train around the tree base, using a 0-4-0 dockside steam switcher from my childhood. With Disney so close, there might even be a Monorail in the works for future Christmas tree set-ups. (Yes they really have model Monorails!)

Ok, comical new tradition story time. Last night on the way back to the folks after visiting with some dear friends, it was almost midnight. So I put out a text to say "Merry Christmas! :)" at or close to midnight. Well, I spelled it wrong, hence the "Meery Christmas! :)" that did post. Inspiration suggested this goofy mispell become a tradition, and so it shall be. Hey, it's good for a laugh and it adds a bit of character to the blog (like there's not enough already).

Hope you all enjoyed the holidays with your families and loved ones and that whenever you're by yourself, maybe you'll invent some new holiday tradition that makes this time of year more special. My sincere best to all of you and well wishes for good times and prosperity in the coming year.