Day 1: My Favorite Christmas Tradition

As I embark on this 12 day writing challenge, I will start with my first 8 days being  "My Favorites" about Christmas, the first day being, a favorite Christmas tradition of mine.

Only for about 4 years now has this been a tradition, but I look forward to it every year. Cinnamon rolls, but not the rolls themselves, but the making them. My dad and I, sometimes another sibling as well, make cinnamon rolls on Christmas Eve for the next morning. There's usually a Christmas-y movie on (our kitchen counter faces the T.V. in the living room, the two rooms are connected as one big room) and it's just a fun time.

The reason I look forward to this every year, is because it's a really great time with my daddy. I love to cook with him, and this is a particular favorite of mine because of all the additional excitement that comes with Christmas Eve. As we roll out the dough, get gooey buttery hands, sprinkle ingredients and cut up the rolls, I just love it, because not only is there an amazing homemade pastry coming out of it, but I get to be with my family.

There is also the detail of eating just about all of my stomach's content worth of the rolls on Christmas morning, along with everyone else. I remember when I was younger and my brother and I would get up really early because of excitement, and while we waited the hours until the rest of our family was awake, we would eat the rolls that were made by mom and dad, and impatiently tried to pass time by talking about what we thought we were getting. That would be another beloved tradition of mine, the time Joe and I spend together the night before and early morning.

We would sleep in my room the night before, barely able to fall asleep, and when we finally did, one of us seemed to wake up hourly, checking the clock to see if we could get up yet. When it was our allowed time to get out of bed (mom would give us a time, it changed over some years, that we had to stay in bed until) we would rush into the living room, and under the bright tree we would open our stockings and enjoy the presents inside them, until the family was all awake and we could unwrap packages. I have very fond memories of Christmas morning as a child.

So although I wrote about two favorite things instead of one...here's my kickoff to the 12 Days of Christmas! :)