I know it may be a bit tacky to still be writing about our Christmas, but I had just one more special memory to share with you.
But first, I feel the need to apologize for being absent for a few days. I think the holidays left me a bit drained and well, for a lack of a better word, “blah”.
My husband e-mailed me a “tasking” for tonight…BLOG! It was just the encouragement I needed to get back into the swing of sharing my life with you.
One of my favorite books and movies of all time is “Little Women”. When Keith and I were engaged, we wated the movie version with Wynona Rider and noticed a very special part in that has been incorporated into our Christmas traditions ever sense.
In one scene, the girls receive a orange and peppermint for Christmas from their father who is a chaplain in the army during the war. Hmmmm…sound a little familiar?
The Christmas after we watched the movie together, Keith had an orange and a candy cane in a brown paper bag under the Christmas tree for me on Christmas morning. He has continued that tradition every year. Even during his last deployment, he had his dad get it for me.
We talked about how we wanted to pass this tradition of enjoying simple gifts at Christmas down to our own children.
This year, Keith couldn’t come up with a plan to secretly get an orange and peppermint under the Christmas tree for me, but we talked it over and made plans to make sure the kids had it in their stockings.
To my delight, this simple gift of fruit and candy was one of the girls’ most treaured gifts this year. Often when they are asked what they got for Christmas, their first reply is “an orange”.
I was especially pleased that this was their response to their Daddy on Christmas night over the web cam.
Yesterday the girls were pretending to play “Christmas” by having their babies open tons of gifts and they made sure to include an orange as one of their babies’ gifts.
Oh, and my friend, Carol, who I told about our little tradition, made sure I had an orange and candy cane this year as well. She thoughtfully wrapped it along with her gifts.
Well, I guess technically, I got two oranges from Carol, since her dog, Tucker, took bites out of one of them!
Pat says
I think this is a wonderful tradition to start! It is the simple meaningful memories that will be remembered forever!
Happy Mama says
That is definitely very sweet!
Tanya says
Just precious and so special, Monica!!
LifeAtTheCircus says
How truly special. I love that this meant so much to them as it did to you and Keith! Just think years from now when they have their own kids, I bet they’ll fill their stockings with an orange and a peppermint.