Monogrammed Stockings

My stockings arrived today! All of them neatly wrapped in plastic and monogrammed with everyone’s name. I was elated- thus the new blog!

To me there is nothing as special as Christmas traditions. If you do not have any- you’re children- and you- need some. Our family has many.

Opening one gift on Christmas Eve; Reading the Christmas story from Luke & having prayer before opening our gifts on Christmas morning; Having a birthday cake for Jesus (chocolate is His favorite by the way); Getting new ornaments for the tree each year; Hanging the Jerusalem Bell on the top of the tree; Who puts the Angel on the tree; have all been a part of an Ouellette Christmas. These traditions are more precious and important to me now than they have ever been.

You might think that these memories and traditions that my parents kept alive with their children might cause my brother and I so much pain now that they are gone, and in some small way, they do. As much as I will miss my parents this year at Christmas, I am still looking forward to it.

Jason and I have talked about not being afraid to do things new- to make some traditions of our own. I don’t really know why, I think I might, but we are pushed by some deep inner desire to keep our family and its traditions- new and old- alive. Not that everything will be the same this year- it can’t be.

For one, our family Christmas tree had to be trashed. Somehow part of the tree was picked up in a trip to the dump during the moving and cleaning of my parent’s home. (Thank God it was just a tree!) So, the tree in my den is a tiny, scrawny thing that will in no way be able to hold the well over 100 ornaments that represent important memories for each member of our family each year. Oh well, we will make do (I just pray it holds the angel).

The Christmas Story will be read by one of us, and I will be the one needing patience while helping David and Brandon bake a birthday cake for Jesus (pray for me). It will be different for sure- but that is where those stockings come in.

My family was never very big on stockings. Some years we had them, some years we didn’t. I decided this year we would add it to our tradition list.

The boys will all have green and the girls (Julie for now) will have red- and… they are MONOGRAMED! This may all seem so very insignificant to you but it is a big deal to me.

Maybe because it helps me know that we are still a family- that we will live on and that we are doing things with our future in mind. However small I sometimes feel we are- we yet stand. That is a great deal to me.

Everyone wants to know what we will do this year for Christmas. I don’t know what all we will do- but I know that we will do. We will do things. They may be old things and they may be our own new things- but we will do them and we will do them as a family. I am looking forward to doing things with my family Christmas Day.

Thank you Mom and Dad for putting in me something that causes me to look forward to doing things with our family.