BUCKING THE SYSTEM: SOME CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS ARE WORTH KEEPING

There's something about my family and its traditions that really make me look forward to the Christmas season.

There are so many things that we repeat every year, like my parents' decorating rivalry and the television cartoon specials that my mom still takes the time to watch with her grandkids.

There's also our annual Christmas Eve party, a multi-family affair which started well before my first birthday. This party, which started with a small group of transplants to Charleston who decided to celebrate the holiday together, is now a huge affair that includes grandkids, sons- and daughters-in law, significant others and other friends.

There's nothing more fun than the annual bickering between the DeMyers, McDowells, Fitzgeralds and Zellars families over whose turn it is to host the party, or the good food, laughter and memories we all share throughout the night before the caroling begins.

And then there's the bittersweet moment right before we sing "Auld Lang Syne," when we remind each other that, even without the bonds of blood, we're family and we love each other and stick together.

That party has long been the highlight of Christmas for me, even better than our early-morning ventures into Mom's living room to see what Santa and everybody else put under the Christmas tree for me.

As I prepare for the holiday this year, I'm thinking about the repeat of all those wonderful Christmas traditions. But crowding those special traditions in my mind is one other that I hold dear: The annual Christmas baking.

Specifically, I'm talking about the day usually Christmas Eve that my sister and I decide we are indeed going to continue our tradition of making peanut butter kiss cookies and hand-decorated sugar cookies.

Every year we claim it's the last time we're going to make the cookies. They take a lot of work, and what is begun as a beloved endeavor always winds up being a hassle and a chore.

But the cookies just taste so good.

"C'mon, Riss, I need you to roll out the dough so we can cut the cookies out."

"Tam, what's wrong with your hands? You do it, with your noncooking self."

And later...

"Tamara Zellars Buck, I thought you were going to help me with these cookies."

"No, you always roll out the dough, I cut them out, and we ice them together, remember?"

"No, I don't remember anything like that. You make me sick."

After this general conversation, I usually say something ugly under my breath before going into another room to pout. Clarissa usually rolls her eyes in my direction, and I come back in to keep her company during the process.

It's a wonderful time.

This year will really be fun because Jerry will be able to help. Last year, he served as Official Taster of the Broken Cookies, but this year, I think his fingers are nimble enough to actually use the cookie cutters.

Of course, PJ won't allow himself to be outdone. If my suspicions are correct, my younger son will find his way up the step stool and onto the island to see what's going on. Jerry will repeatedly shout "NO!" as he tries to protect his treasures from his brother's grubby hands, and there will be plenty of broken cookies to go around.

That is, of course, in addition to the smooches and the laughter we all will share and the flour that will most likely coat the floor and the two boys in Christmas.

I can hardly wait.