I’m writing my Christmas Day blog in the brief lull between having finished all the present wrapping, card writing, house decorating (and cleaning) and cookie baking and the festivities of Christmas Eve and Christmas itself. For those of you celebrating the holiday, I hope you are safely and happily ensconced with those you love and with whom you are celebrating. Today I’m sharing with you a few of the activities (which have become traditions in our household) I’ve shared with my grandsons over the past few weeks. I know from my own childhood that, all these years later, I remember well those annual rites surrounding the holiday far better than I recall any particular gift I opened on Christmas morning. I treasure being able to create happy memories of this time for the boys, ones that they may one day share with their own grandkids.

First, a few weeks ago we visited “Christmas at the FFArm,” an event sponsored by the local high school’s Future Farmers of America (FFA) program which coincides with their annual Christmas tree sale.   This year’s theme was “Christmas in Whoville,” and featured visits by Santa and the green one himself, the Grinch, along with a whole slew of activities and a bazaar offering local crafts and art.   You could sip on hot chocolate while the kids visited with farm animals   or rode on the reindeer train.   There were craft tables where the kids could make Grinchy ornaments  or those made from beads and pipe cleaners.   “Kids” of all ages really got into the apple fling, where they used giant slingshots to launch rotten apples at plywood Christmas tree cutouts. The FFArm proved a great way for two boys to expend a lot of pent-up energy on a rainy day.

Last weekend the boys had a sleepover at our house, giving their parents a chance to get a few Christmas chores accomplished and see a movie, to boot. To ensure a good night’s sleep for everyone, we embarked on a walking tour of the neighborhood after dinner to take in the numerous elaborate holiday light displays. In addition to a wide range of brilliant LED lights and projections, a majority of lawns sported illuminated blow-up characters. Santa made an appearance in an interesting array of conveyances beyond the traditional sleigh. He appeared in an ATV, a speedboat,    a helicopter and a monster truck. Just around the corner from a home with a traditional creche scene   lies our neighborhood’s most extensive and unusual holiday setup. There are a few friendly Disney characters in the form of Tigger, Winnie-the-Pooh and Eeyore, but there are a host of very nontraditional figures from the Star Wars universe — including storm troopers,   Baby Yoda(s) and droids. Jack Skellington, his dog, Zero, and other figures from A Nightmare Before Christmas  also figure prominently in this blow-up extravaganza. Our scheme worked: Both boys fell asleep quickly and slept the night through once we got back home.

Our final activity before the big day involved frosting, cut-out cookies and TONS of sprinkles. In order to keep the chaos to a minimum (a relative measure), I baked the cookies and made up the frosting in advance. The boys each had their own spot at the dining table with a tray for working on the cookies (and containing the sprinkles) and a damp washcloth for wiping sticky fingers. They did a great job decorating stars, bells, Christmas trees and snowmen . . . for at least half an hour. Interest quickly waned after that, but they had a good time, with a seeming unspoken competition between them as to who could dump the most sprinkles on a single cookie. Can you tell which tray holds the cookies the boys decorated and which the grandparents did?   

We’ll build on these traditions next year, God willing, and in the years to come, and no doubt a few new ones will be added to the mix. For now, from my house   to yours, I wish you a very Merry Christmas!

— Patty Vanikiotis, associate editor/copy editor