Thankful thought of the day - Today I'm thankful for traditions.

In my house, we have many family traditions for the holidays. Certain decor that each family has used over the years; certain foods that are a "must" for snacking.

I am so thankful for traditions. For it is traditions that bond families together and make the holiday so special. Here are just a few of the traditions we have had over the years.

My Mamaw Eden, my mom and myself always put out our poinsettias as the first decoration of the Christmas season. When I first got married and Mamaw was still alive, there was always a race to see who got theirs out first. We never put them out until we were ready to decorate completely and we never put them out until after Thanksgiving. I never won. Mom or Mamaw always beat me to it. Over the years, we have used the fake plastic ones from the 5 & 10 stores. We graduated to silk ones where those became the rave. We even put out real ones on occasion. But to us, Christmas was not here until the poinsettias were in the living room.

I haven't done one of these in years, but I'm going to try to get one made this year. We would get together and Dad would drill our holes and we would decorate our yule logs. We would put felt on the bottom to protect the furniture. We each decorated ours to our own taste, using greenery, ribbons and various Christmas floral picks.

This is one of my traditions. Somewhere in my house, I have to have pine cones. It's not Christmas without some decoration using pine cones. I like to use real ones. Sometimes I paint the tips with glue and dip them in glitter. Sometimes I spray paint them and sometimes I just leave them plain. I usually place them in some type of dish or bowl. Sometime I weave ribbon through the bowl and sometimes I place pine boughs in with them. But either way, I have to do pine cones at Christmas. I'm in search of some this year. We do not have pine trees so I have to call on friends and family to see if I can get some.

It's just not Christmas without my tree being a mish-mash of memories. The first ornaments that go on our tree are the old glass ornaments that belonged to hubby's Granny Keefer. When she passed away, his grandfather gave them to us and they have decorated our tree ever since. They have their own special box and are each wrapped in soft cotton to prevent breakage. They are placed on with great care and high enough that the grandbabies can't reach.

Papaw is a train buff. He has always been fascinated with them and has passed his infatuation down to the grandchildren. They all love trains and love when he lets them hold some of his old trains. About 8 years ago, we purchased this Hallmark snow globe. You wind it up to play a Christmas Song and the trains moves around the track. The grandkids are spell bound. It's one of those special moments when he holds the globe and winds it for the first time each Christmas. They all gather around him and stand in awe as the train moves around. 

I don't have this style anymore, but growing up, we used to always decorate our windows with these electric candles. Some years the bulbs were green, sometimes red, and sometimes blue. Over the years, I changed to those you just twist on that are battery powered. But I still love the tradition of a candle in the window.

Another family tradition is a Christmas tablecloth. I scour the stores every year looking for the perfect one to fit the mood of my decorations that year. Some years, I'm in to the Santa theme and go with a red style tablecloth. Some years I use all my snowmen stuff and go back to a blue with snowflakes tablecloth. Whatever the mood, me and Mom always have a Christmas tablecloth for the holidays.

Some of my favorite family traditions are the sweets. We have a wonderful recipe for peanut butter balls passed down from Mamaw Eden. Mamaw and Mom would make them every year and they always gave us a tin with some in it. Now that Mamaw's gone, we don't get them as much. One year I decided to make them myself. Oh my gosh! Nobody ever told me how long it took or how MANY it makes. 

Mom has the great recipe for chocolate candy. I call it candy not fudge, because it sets up hard and doesn't have to be refrigerated. One of  my greatest achievements was when I actually made it and it turned out right. It is one of those "beat it until it almost sets up". I always got too impatient and ended up with a chocolaty syrupy sugary concoction that was not edible. But I learned to be patient and now I can make it just fine. This is my all time favorite candy.

That's just some of my favorite family traditions. I'm sure your family has some of its own. To my blogging friends, I would love to see what some of your traditions are. I think it is nice to learn the different things that bring a smile to our faces.