What do you or your families do every Christmas? I know we go shopping, buy gifts for each other, visit relatives and eat a big dinner on Christmas Day, but what is that 1 thing you or your family does that most wouldn’t do every Christmas? Is there something that has to occur before you can truly call it Christmas time? I know every year we see a few Christmas commercials that come on before Thanksgiving Day and I can’t get into the Christmas spirit until Turkey Day has passed us by. Black Friday follows Thanksgiving Day, so a lot of people get launched into the Christmas spirit right after our Turkey Thursdays.
My Christmas traditions seem to revolve around Christmas songs. I love to hear Christmas music every day leading up to Christmas Day. Once December 26 arrives, I don’t want to hear any Christmas songs being played anywhere. I have a couple of songs that I really like to listen to and I must hear them every year in order to celebrate Christmas properly. The Christmas song about a hippopotamus for Christmas and Christmas in Dixie by Alabama are two traditional songs that I must hear every year before December 25th. I have heard both of these songs for over 10 years now and I plan to keep this tradition going for at least 10 more years.
I have grown to love another Christmas song that many may have not heard of before. This is an Italian favorite for Christmas and I’m sure most Italians or people with some Italian blood will already know the song I am talking about. It’s the Dominick the Donkey Christmas Song and it really is a cute and catchy song, after you listen to it a few times. We don’t have a large Italian population in Georgia and I have never heard this song on the radio before. I’m sure it’s been played a few times over the air waves here, but I doubt many from Georgia would be familiar with this Italian classic. The Italian Donkey song has been around since the mid 60′s, so it’s not a new song, just one that isn’t played during the holidays. I believe Dominick the Donkey is going to join my other 2 Christmas songs I consider tradition and I will now have 3 songs that I must hear every year before I consider it Christmas time. I have heard all 3 of these Christmas songs for 2008, so I do consider it Christmas time now!
Please be sure to share your Christmas traditions and leave a reply to this blog post, so I can see what others do every year. I want to know about the little things and what you look forward to each year, during the days of December leading up to Christmas Day. It doesn’t have to be something big or grand that you consider a Christmas tradition. You can see that my Christmas spirit is dependant on Christmas songs and just being able to hear a couple of songs make it Christmas time for me. So the smaller your traditions are each year, is the more I want you to reply and let me know what it is. I know as a kid I had to see Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman on television before I could celebrate Christmas. As an adult now, I think Chevy Chase’s National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation is a traditional-like movie for me now. That is a great movie and I think it does a great job of showing what Christmas is like when you have a lot of relatives over. I know on Christmas Day we will get to see 24 hours of a Christmas Story and this has become tradition for me too and I like leaving the television on that channel for the entire day.
Is your Christmas tradition surrounded by a Christmas song, Christmas movie, or perhaps you just like taking a ride through a certain neighborhood to see the Christmas lights and decorations on the houses? You may choose to always go eat at a certain restaurant while shopping and this is your Christmas tradition. Leave a reply and let me know about your Christmas traditions. Thanks and Merry Christmas!