Celebrating holidays is something I personally love to do...every holiday! Christmas time is my favorite time of the year, mainly because I celebrate my birthday too! I brought a lot of family traditions into the lives of my children from my own childhood. They have the same stocking every year. I made each child his own stocking in their family color in various patchwork patterns. I have a Santa sit under my tree just as I did as a child. I was a year old when I received a Santa from my uncle. It sat under our family tree every year and when I got married it went with me to sit under my new family tree. It is so old now and quite worn out that I have retired it to the look at only phase of its life. Meanwhile, my mother sent me a stuffed "Santa" dog and it now sits under my tree every year. As a child we always had a real pine tree. Necessity made it so that the tree was only allowed to be up for about two weeks. (Darn those pine needles and watering stands!) We always put it up on my birthday. My sisters kept this tradition going with their own families. I however, being somewhat of a rebel at Christmas, I put mine up the first Saturday in December. (Mine is not a real pine tree, but a real "fake" pine tree!) One year, my nephew Kyle let his mom know that it was Auntie Paula's birthday. She kindly thanked him and called me. We talked for an hour or so and got caught up on all of the latest family gossip. The conversation was over and Kyle once again informed his mom that it was Auntie's birthday. He was not really concerned that I would be forgotten.....he wanted that Christmas tree set up! Having forgotten about that she quickly sent her husband to the tree lot, and she went in search of their ornaments and assorted decorations!