-12 Days of Christmas Traditions-
Day 5: Stephanie
“Anonymous Ring & Run Dinner”
Hey- I’m Stephanie (a.k.a. Sister #4- I am the one on the left and yes, I am the only red head in the family!). I am currently a junior in college, majoring in Speech Communications. I will be graduating in about a year and I am planning on getting my Master’s degree after that. I currently work for a cute company called Cox’s Honeyland and basically I make honey! It’s a fun job and hey- it pays the bills!
One of my favorite family traditions is something that we have been doing for as long as I can remember. We call it the “Anonymous Dinner”.
Every year we choose one family in our area who has had a tough year or who could use a little bit of help. Sometimes it would be kids that we saw at school, people from our church, or people my parents heard about through their jobs. We never had a lot of extra money growing up, but what we did have, we tried to share. We would go to the grocery store and purchase everything that was needed for a big Christmas dinner- a turkey or ham, potatoes, green beans, gravy, stuffing, pumpkin pie, etc. We would also purchase just some canned food and other food staples and throw them all in a big box. If we knew more about what the family needed specifically, we would sometimes throw in those items also.
On Christmas Eve night, around 8 or 9 pm, we would pause our Christmas Eve party and load up into the family van (love that van). We would drive to the family’s house that was chosen that year and scope out the area so we could plan our getaway. We then chose two people to carry the heavy box to the door. Once they set the box on the porch, they do the classic “Ring and Run”- ring the doorbell and run as fast as their legs will carry them!
When we were little, it was usually our mom and dad that would do the ringing and running, but as we girls got older (and faster than our parents!), we got to take turns. The getaway car was usually parked around the corner and sometimes it was a far way to run! I don’t think that we have ever been caught, but we have definitely had some close calls!!
Once the runners were safely back in the car, we would usually drive around the block for a couple of minutes and then drive past the house again to make sure the family got their box. Our adrenaline is always pumping by this point . . . there is something so exciting about being secretive!
Our other family traditions are fun, but I think that this is the one we look forward to the most. It is pretty neat to share what you have with others (even if you don’t have much)- which is what Christmas is all about.
Merry Christmas!
Stephanie
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