Santa, this Bud's for You!

Christmas Eve is my favorite day of the year!  Christmas Eve traditions have always been a bit "unique" at the Dawson household.

For starters, I never believed in Santa, but that was not due to a lack of trying on my mom's part.  I remember being a little girl and learning about safety in school.  I asked my dad how Santa got into our house without a chimney.  He told me he left the front door unlocked and Santa snuck in in the middle of the night.  And cue the spastic child meltdown.  I mean how irresponsible can my parents be?  They just left the door unlocked and then if they heard a man downstairs, they would just assume it was Santa.  What if it was a murderer?  What if it was someone that was going to break in and steal my Strawberry Shortcake stuff???  So my dad told me the truth about Santa, but also threw in the tidbit that if I ratted my dad out and told my mom that I no longer believed, then I would stop getting presents.  Deal!

With this juicy little secret in my little girl brain, my family developed all kinds of new traditions.  For example, Santa didn't get cookies and milk at our house.  Santa was way too tired of the sweets by the time he showed up, and he really wanted Dorritos and a cold Budweiser.  Sure Santa, whatever floats your boat.

After dinner, Mikey and I each got to open two presents: a pair of pajamas and a new ornament.  The ornaments were little teddy bears dressed up in outfits that represented our past year.  My mom would spend hours on these little guys and we loved getting them.  Now that we are grown, we no longer get pj's and teddy bears, but last year my mom gave me all of mine, and they now cover our tree.  This is a tradition I hope to continue with our own children someday.

We will have dinner tonight at my parents' home. Blair's parents always do a big giant dinner on the 25th and 26th, so fortunately, both of us are able to maintain our family traditions.  I suspect Santa may have been a bit more traditional at the Hoyt household :)

We wish you and yours a wonderful, wacky, Merry Christmas!

Bear representing my high school graduation. 

Sweet Omie at her holiday party yesterday. We wish she could join us again this year.