Southern Christmas

Prior to being a Kentuckian, I was a Georgia peach. Granted, I was only 12 when I moved here, but my mom was from Savannah and had a slow, southern drawl to her speech. She was mega-Georgian.

Anyway, growing up, I quickly realized the grandeur of the Southern Christmas. Not sure where the revelry comes from in the tradition with my family as we were never particularly religious. I do know that Christmas time was my favorite as a child, and to this day have really strong inclinations to keep some of the Southern traditions intact despite not having family around.

Hubs grew up in Lexington, and has a different version of a Southern Christmas than my family did. They focused much less on material items, decorations, and food than we did. Perhaps some of that comes with having a large family and enough chatter to fill the house with color.

Ingredients to my Southern Christmas:

• The tree. Real or fake, but white lights only. Ribbons must be present and theme trees are acceptable (in color or category). Multiple trees are encouraged as well if there are children - they get their own tree.
• Needlepoint stockings hanging on the fireplace mantle. Bonus if the names are on the stocking. At Christmas, stockings must be overflowing with lots of goodies. Some of my favorite things were in the stockings, just because they were unexpected and thoughtful. 
• A wreath on the front door.
• A tree skirt with tradition. I have the one my family used growing up. It doesn't match the tree or my house decor, so I cover it up. Still, I know it's there and that's all that matters.
• Food. Lots of food. Staples include: pecan pie, pumpkin pie, ambrosia, ham, turkey, giblet stuffing and gravy, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes (fresh, not from a box, and with real butter), baked macaroni and cheese, green bean casserole with those fried onions on top, yeast rolls.
• Holiday-scented potpourri or cinnamon pinecones around the house.

These days the food is much lighter, the potpourri has been replaced with Scentsy and hubs and I don't do stockings, but I still have my little semblance of my Southern Christmas. 

What does your Southern Christmas look like?