Damn Good Stuff

My Christmas Eve Traditions:

As I set here writing my Christmas Eve blog the snow is lightly falling, the bright colored lights sway with a slight breeze, I think to myself, wow this is what the Christmas Spirit feels like.

As a child the most perfect Christmas Eve's came with snowfall. The excitement would overtake my essence with each flake that fell. A white Christmas is the best Christmas'.

Christmas Eve traditions, are warm wonderful memories that last forever. When I was a very small girl we would walk over to my Great Grandma's house for the celebration. We always ate, and opened a present. Food was definitely not what I had in mind. Christmas Candy and the present was what kept me asking can we open the presents now! My family from California would come down, bringing with them See's Candy, in the 60's in Salina, that was a real treat. Also from California would come fancy packages wrapped from the big stores, again a pleasure when you lived in a town of under 2000.

As you grow up the Christmas Eve parties change, we moved our next parties to my Grandma Lenna's house. She would spend a month decorating her home. It was outrageously beautiful. Shadow boxes with small Christmas figurines tens of thousands of lights both inside and out. Frozen ice sculptures in the front yard with lit up color wheels. People would come from all over to see my Grandpa and Grandma's house. She would fix fancy appetizer's, and delicious punch. She was my step grandmother and had lived in the city all her life, she knew how to entertain and that was certainly a new experience for a bunch of Cowboy's. Her presents were so pretty I never wanted to rip the paper. They always had matching bows and trinkets on them.

Then the parties moved to Mom's house. My Mom can cook! Working retail we all show up starving and exhausted. The feast is always delicious and through the years it moved from my little kids running around spilling food and drink on her white carpet to now my five grandchildren doing the same thing.

This year is my first Christmas Eve in 50 winters not spent in Salina. Certainly a life change.

The new Park City store will be bustling with people on their ski vacations. We always closed early on Christmas Eve at the Salina store, this year in Park City we will be open late. Like the song says, I'll be home for Christmas, if only in my dreams.

I love my family, we sacrifice a lot for the success of Burns Saddlery and Burns Cowboy Shop. Six Generations and never in 132 years has our family been without supplying Christmas for Cowboys throughout Utah, and now throughout the world.

Our family will all get together first thing in the morning, as Scott and I head South to see the twinkle and excitement in those grandchildren's eyes. Taking me back to my inner child that is as much a believer now as I was over four decades ago.

Have A Wonderful Christmas,

Danna