Thirteen Christmas Traditions My Family Has (or Had in the Past!)

1. Our whole family loves to sing, so we always go Christmas caroling with the church. Love it, love it. It's so nice to spread Christmas cheer to those who aren't able to get out and enjoy the season.

2. For as long as I can remember I've been a part of the Christmas play or cantata at my church. I even wrote a few of the plays. This is something most of my family takes part in as well. It's fun to see it all come together after all the practice.

3. On Christmas Eve we all go to my Grandma and Grandpa Cockman's house. These are my mom's parents. The family on that side is huge: Mom has 2 brothers and 4 sisters, plus all of their kids, which comes to 16 grandkids in all, plus the grandkids' children, which stands at 3 right now, plus all the spouses, boyfriends, and girlfriends. Just put it this way, there are a LOT of people there. But we always have a fun time catching up with each other.

4. Sometime on Christmas Eve my brother and I get together with our cousins Scott, Tracy, Will, and Chris to do our gift exchange and to watch "One More Sleep," better known to the rest of the world as "The Muppet Christmas Carol."

5. When we were younger and still lived at home, my sister and I shared a room. My brother had his own room because he was a boy (bum!), but on Christmas Eve Mom always made him sleep in our room because he was sneaky and would try to get a peek at the presents. When we'd wake up on Christmas morning we'd all sit there and talk about what we thought we'd gotten. The rule was we had to wait until at least five to wake our parents. As soon as the clock struck five we would all yell together, "Mama, Daddy, wake up. It's Christmas!!!" Mom always passed out the gifts because she was the only one who knew who was supposed to get what. See, she'd write names on the packages in tiny print where no one could see it. We spent the weeks before Christmas trying to find our names written on the packages. Sometimes even she couldn't find where she had written them.

Heather Smith
Thirteen Reasons Santa Might Have Picked Elves to Help Him Instead of Humans

1. He was obviously on a power trip. He wanted to stand head and shoulders above his entire workforce.
2. He felt sorry for the elves who made the shoes and wanted to offer them something more fun and less stinky to do.
3. He figured elves wouldn't eat as much, so there would be more food for him to eat. After all, you can't stay the big, jolly guy if you are hungry all the time.
4. He knew that the elves wouldn't expect health insurance or a retirement plan.
5. He figured no human would want the thankless job of cleaning up after the reindeer.
6. He knew that if he hired humans they'd be playing with the toys instead of building them (especially if he hired men!).
7. He figured he'd have a lifetime supply of cookies since the Keebler elves were the experts in cookie making. He didn't want anybody the same size as him in the North Pole because they might try to overthrow him.
9. He figured it would add more mystery to his existence and make more people question, "Does he exist or not?"
10. He decided he'd never get in trouble over affirmative action because he had hired a complete minority.
11. He had tons of extra doll clothes and needed to hire someone who could wear them.
12. He wanted to feel important since he was the only one tall enough to reach the top of the Christmas tree.
13. Too many of the humans he had tried to hire were hunters in disguise trying to kill the reindeer.
Merry Christmas, everybody! Get the Thursday Thirteen code here! View more Thursday Thirteen participants. Posted by Thirteen Things.

Tracy and I Did to Decorate Our House for Christmas
1. Do you remember a few weeks back where I told you about the giant Buddy the Elf cutout that was standing in my bay window? Well, he is now taped to my front door trimmed in pretty green garland. (This was Tracy's work.)
2. One of my dad's deer heads that was left hanging above the mantel now has a green garland and red Christmas bow, bow-tie thing going on. (Also Tracy's work.)
3. There are candy dishes full of candy. (Tracy again.)
4. There is a Christmas tree in front of the bay window with about 2,500 white lights on it. (This one was me.)
5. There are Christmas knick-knacks on the mantel below the deer. 1. (This was half me, half Tracy.) One of these knickknacks is a picture of our cousin Scott last year at Christmastime wearing my nephew Trace's "My First Christmas" Santa Claus hat. It's a really funny picture in a Christmas frame.
2. Garland is hung from the mantel with lights strung through it (my doing).
3. There are lots of snowman and Santa candles placed around the house (half Tracy, half me).
4. A glass nativity scene is set up on the bar with garland and lights surrounding it.
5. A Christmas village is on our entertainment center on the shelf above our TV (thanks to Tracy's mom for the loan of the village).
6. Wreaths are hung on several walls, making the place look festive.
7. There is another nativity scene on my dresser and another on a bookshelf. After all, Jesus is the reason for the season, so you can never have too many nativity scenes.
8. Lights are strung from the canopy on my bed. This is one of my favorite things.