Extra-tradition

A couple of weeks ago, I was looking for blogs that reviewed books, and I came across a site called Reading Adventures. Marg, the author, was promoting an Advent Blog Tour, sort of along the lines of the Carnival of Education (this week's edition is currently running at Mamacita's place, by the way).

Every day, Marg posts links to a blog where the author shares a Christmas memory or tradition. Well, I'm just full of it -- tradition, that is -- so I promptly signed up for December 11th.

And here we are. I've read a couple of other stops on the Advent Blog Tour, so I know I won't be the first to talk about Christmas movies, but that is my family's major Christmas tradition. Every year, on December 23rd (which I call Christmas Eve Eve, but my sister-in-law insists on calling Christmas Adam), we have our family Christmas movie marathon.

Beginning around 5, we screen movie after movie after movie, until everyone decides it's just time to crash and go home. This usually happens around 4 or 5 in the morning, though people doze throughout the evening.

It's a Wonderful Life is always run during dinner, because we all know it by heart and there's really no reason to have to SEE Zuzu's petals or Clarence jumping into the river.

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation and Bill Murray's Scrooged are ALWAYS shown, but the other movies rotate in and out from year to year. We've watched all the incarnations of A Christmas Carol, all 3 Santa Clauses, Jingle All the Way, The Preacher's Wife, Elf, Serendipity, A Christmas Story, Deck the Halls, Christmas with the Cranks, The Holiday, The Family Man, and many others I've forgotten over the years.

I think we put up Trading Places one year, but once we remembered that there is a lot of language and a few boobs (and there are several little kids at movie night), we decided to save that one for another evening.

As a tradition-within-a-tradition, my brother and I used to wait until most of the others had fallen asleep, usually around 3AM, and then put Die Hard into the VCR. After all, it IS a Christmas party at Nakatomi Tower!

I want to thank Marg for letting me part of the Advent Blog Tour, and thanks to everyone stopping by to read!