NUTS

 What's the first thing you think of when I say "Christmas"? Nuts, of course. "What?!" you say? You mean you don't think of nuts? My grandparents, particularly my paternal grandfather, would get Hazel nuts for my mother for Christmas. Mixed nuts, still in the shell, would be in a bowl on the livingroom floor with a nutcracker the whole Christmas season. Nuts and oranges would be in my stocking on Christmas morning. And don't you know, when I got married, I discovered Pistachio nuts were my husband's Christmas tradition. There is always a bowl of pistachios on his mother's table or counter during the holidays, and there is a package of them among the presents to be taken home. My children purchase nuts for their grandparents as Christmas presents, too.

So even though I don't put up a Christmas tree or lights, I still have a bowl of nuts on the table.
                                                      Merry Christmas Everybody!