Christmas Traditions, Old and New

Every family has their traditions...and one of ours was John making pancakes on Christmas morning...

Several lifetimes ago, John and I owned a small corner store in Pottsville, Pennsylvania.  When we closed the store, we kept two major pieces of restaurant equipment.  The restaurant griddle -- and a commercial meat slicer.

I DON'T KNOW WHY MORE PEOPLE DON'T DO THIS.  For crying out loud -- that griddle has been used almost every day of our lives.  And it makes SO MUCH SENSE...For bacon, for pancakes, for grilled cheese sandwiches, for hamburgers, hot dogs, steaks...we use it every day...and it saves WASHING ALL THOSE POTS AND PANS...

Anyway -- back to the pancakes...

John always makes them from scratch...

The year Lilly was two...

Uncle Ross came home for Christmas.

We set the table with my good Coaching Scenes china, and Aunt Rozella's silver...

Which is the finest thing I own...

Like most family traditions, this one has morphed over the years. To accommodate the changing times and different circumstances.

Nobody wakes up here on Christmas morning anymore...

But, me being a genius and all, I cleverly invite Lilly and Warren to sleep here on DECEMBER 23rd...That's right!! Their Mom is snowed with last minute Christmas details, and she is delighted to have a child-free day. When the kids wake up here on Christmas Eve -- yep -- pancakes (nowadays, with sprinkles and coconut).

I didn't get a picture of the pancakes that morning...but they both put on their Santa Hats and helped me ALL DAY LONG...

Lilly and Warren both wrapped up gifts, and helped me make up games (I'm not much of an actual gift-shopper, so the games help to cover up people's disappointment). They set the table, and picked up the house. Lilly ran the sweeper and emptied the dishwasher.  Warren kept saying, "what's my job, Grandma?"

The whole time, we were listening to Christmas music and wearing our Santa hats.

More about those games later...