Day 24: Tradition

Please join us in the 25 Days of December Challenge, issued by my friend Stacy.

I've been thinking a lot about traditions lately, with the 25 days challenge and all. I love traditions. Things that families do... well, just because. Sometimes, there is great historical significance to a tradition and other times it is just for fun. I love finding simple traditions that we can do with our boys to emphasize specific events or holidays to create memories.

My family (the Majeres side) has always celebrated Christmas on Christmas Eve. We grew up knowing the true meaning of Christmas and Santa did not play a role in that celebration. So, we were free to open gifts on Christmas Eve. We lived far away from my grandparents and I could count the number of Christmases spent with extended family on less than one hand. Normally, it was just my brothers, my parents and me (until we all got married & had kids, of course!). We would gather together on Christmas Eve and eat soup. I'm not sure where the soup thing got started, but thankfully, traditions can change over time. We used to always have oyster stew (ICK!). Now, we still have soup, but we eat yummy soups and there are at least two varieties so that everyone is happy! After soup, cheese, crackers and some sweet baby Gerkins... we would share the Christmas story (out of the Bible!) and talk about the meaning of Christmas. Then, we open presents! One person starts by handing out one gift. After that person has opened the gift, they choose a gift for another person. And so on. And so on... until all of the gifts are opened. It takes HOURS and I thoroughly enjoy every moment of it! The tradition carries on as we gather with my family again today.

In honor of my family tradition, I thought I would share my favorite soup recipe with you:

Cheese Veggie Soup

1/2 C water

4 T butter

20 oz. frozen corn

1 C shredded carrots

1/2 C chopped onions

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

21 oz. cream of potato soup (4 cans)

4 C milk

2 C (16 oz) shredded cheddar cheese

1 C (8 oz) shredded provolone cheese

In saucepan, bring water, butter, corn, carrots, onions, salt and pepper to boil. Simmer 10 minutes. Add soup, milk, then cheese. Heat until cheese is melted. Don't let it boil or scorch - keep on low! Yummy!