Keepin' Tradition Alive

Growing up, my family always had the tradition of opening up one gift on Christmas eve.  It was kind of like a "holding us over" until the next morning kind of thing.  Of course we got to pick which present we opened (my parents never left out any of the "big" presents until the morning, of course).  For some reason, I always ended up opening up a pair of socks or clothes or something.  Luck of the draw, I guess.

So when Andy and I had our first Christmas together, almost 4 years ago, I wanted to keep that tradition alive.  Andy and I have always been excited this time of year.  We love getting things for eachother.  If we could buy the world for eachother, I think we would.  But we have to show some sort of restraint, right?  Well, we were pretty close that year (to buying a million presents for eachother... it was somewhat excessive, probably).  And we were definitely excited to see eachother's faces opening gifts up.  So I asked him on Christmas eve if he'd like to do what my family does, and open up one present.  Of course he agreed, and you could see the joy in his face. 

So we each opened up our one present (I can't remember what it was, but I know it wasn't socks or clothes!), and I remember being like a little kid again!  We both looked at eachother, like hey, we don't really have anything else to do for the rest of the night, so why don't we open up the rest.  You know, that kind of look.  So we ended up starting our own tradition of opening up gifts with eachother on Christmas eve!

I can't believe we've made it through 4 Christmases with eachother!  Ever since December started this year, Andy has been doing a countdown of "how many days until Christmas" every day I woke up.  He's just like a little kid when it comes to this time of the year!  But I get the same way.  I think most of all, we get to show eachother how much we do listen to eachother, and know what we like. 

And this year was no exception.  Andy pulled through with some great stuff! 

Andy and I have this tradition of giving eachother a new pair of shoes every Christmas, too!

 And my family did too!

My dad made these cutting boards!

And Andy's parents too!

Love this serving set!

A kitchen torch... WAY excited!

We are both really lucky.  I know that I'm thankful for even being able to have a Christmas, because I know there are people out there that can't celebrate because of various reasons.  So I think the best gift of all this year was being able to spend Christmas with so many people that I love, and that love me in return!