Christmas Traditions

I was thinking back about Christmas traditions in our family and had to smile as I remembered some very fun times with our boys. They were the best little helpers as we made our Christmas goodies. We started when the boys were very young making popcorn balls to deliver to all of our neighbors and friends. Every year we made lots and lots of popcorn balls of red, green and white. I remember Matt skating across the street during an ice storm once to deliver our treat to the neighbors one Christmas Eve. We loved those popcorn balls and would eat them until our mouths were sometimes sore. After we left Fairfax we have had several friends request we stop by with the popcorn balls. It's Annie Crowley's recipe...........everyone loves it.



Annie's Popcorn Balls

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup white karo
1/2 stick butter
Stir to first bubble. Cover and let boil for exactly 2 minutes. Pour over two batches of popped corn and shape into balls.

How easy is that!

Our long time tradition for Christmas morning breakfast is our "Sugar Lump Bread", link sausages and Grandma Rigby's Orange Julius. We've had the same breakfast for at least 30 years on Christmas morning. If you can't tell, I'm a recipe nut and have a super collection from lots of family members.

Freshly Baked Sugar Lump Cinnamon Bread



A Crowley Family Favorite - I found this fun recipe in 1970 right after moving to the DC area.

We also always have a ham dinner on Christmas Day. This tradition goes back to our Neider Family in Idaho. My dad always made Christmas dinner with all of the trimmings and the ham had to be prepped just so with glaze and cloves, etc. He would sometimes let us put the cloves in the ham, but most of the time he insisted on doing it all himself. It was a very fun tradition.

Another fun thing in Tyhee was our Christmas deliverys. Since Dad and Mom had the IGA store in Tyhee, they would gather their kids each year and designate several families to receive a bushel basket of food. Dad would put the ham in the basket and then send us kids all over the store to select other items we felt were appropriate. I can still remember squealing with glee as we raced back to the basket. With a full basket the family would then deliver the goods. My parents were especially generous and it was a very memorable experience.

With my own children I love thinking of the sweet times. One FHE in November, we had the manger with a baby Jesus. Every time a good deed was performed we put new straw in the manger with the hope that by Christmas the manger would be nice and soft for the baby. After about three days, Andrew could no longer take it and filled it full so the baby would be comfortable. That Andrew likes to take care of everyone still.

One of the sweetest Christmas FHE's was when Andrew was our own little baby in the manger. He was just a perfect baby Jesus. Our Christmas FHE's were always memorable. We started the year Matt was a baby having a special FHE at Christmas and invited friends or family to come. Everyone had to be on the program in some way. They were so memorable. Last year we did the Christmas Story with little Charlotte in the manger and Lauren, Tanner and Carsen were shepherds. They were adorable.

So this year will be new for us. We are going to Matt and Gabe's for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Of course we will take our traditions with us and also enjoy Matt and Gabe's. It will be such a delight to be with them and watch our darling Charlotte enjoy the awe of Christmas.

It's been a quiet Season for us and we have happily navigated it very differently. We are so thankful for all of our Christmas' and the sweet spirit that surrounds and fills our home. The hustle bustle isn't here and it feels serenely peaceful. We'll still have the sugar lump bread, the divinity and maybe some caramels, but it's very quiet. I'm not even going to look at the part of our beautiful tree where the string of lights went out today. It just won't bother me this year. I'm just going to think about our fun traditions.