A Smith Family Tradition

I love the holidays. I especially love Christmas time.

Every year we start out the Christmas season by

drawing family names on Thanksgiving day.

Megan usually makes up some fancy box and

writes all of our names down so that we

can draw each others names for a month

of service followed by the Christmas Eve gift exchange.

The kids love it. They try so hard to serve their particular person.

Another tradition that I love is doing secret service for another family. I love that the kids really get into it. They love to find the perfect gift for whichever family we've chosen. They wrap their hearts out and then drop off the gifts on some unsuspecting family doorstep. Some years we are better at getting this tradition done than other years, but its a tradition nonetheless.

But there is one tradition that each and every year we never miss... the flu.

The flu is a Christmas curse around here. It typically hits 2 days before school lets out for winter break. Each and every year one of our kids miss their holiday celebration that they look forward to every year. This year Emily was the unlucky girl. She wanted to be at her party more than anyone. As luck will have it, she missed the big party. In years past we usually are pushing our luck to have everyone healthy on Christmas day. We'll luck might be one our side this year! As of today everyone in the family has had their stint with the flu this last week. A whole 4 days before Christmas! This must be our lucky year! Although it didn't feel very lucky as I was taking my turn getting to know every crack and crevasse of the bathroom. So for another year, another tradition down. With any lucky this tradition will fade away in time....

Here's hoping this tradition doesn't catch on in your family!!