Yesterday, Ken (my husband) and I helped my parents decorate their Christmas Tree. As we unwrapped the decorations , I noticed that some were in their original gift boxes, with neatly written dated labels, describing, who had given them to my parents. Mother told us about the decorations she had bought and the reason she had bought them. Occasionally she would say, remember when you gave me this one, or I remember when you made this one. As we sipped on our first glass of eggnog this season, we shared our memories of Christmases past and rejoiced in the fact that we had all been together for Christmas every year, since Ken and I married, with the exception of two. The time my Father was in the hospital, although we spent most of our time there with him. And another Christmas, when just after graduating from college, our son spent Christmas in England, where he was working at the time. He called us three times Christmas Eve, the third time at exactly 6pm our time.
We start our celebration at 6pm Christmas Eve, by listening to a tape of the bells of Reykjavik, announcing the start of the season and a choir singing our favorite Icelandic hymn. We say Gledileg Jol (Merry Christmas) to each other and start the our Icelandic celebration. For dinner we have hangikjot (smoked lamb) potatoes and peas in white sauce, and red cabbage. For desert we have rice pudding with one almond, whoever gets the almond receives and extra gift......usually marzipan. Christmas day is our American version of Christmas, starting with a big breakfast and the Christmas stockings. We cook a big meal together, listen to music, read our new books, watch our favorite Christmas movie and end the day full of joy and to much good food. This year we will have a new member in our family, our son’s Danish sweet heart, and without doubt new traditions will be created. I love Christmas :)