The first tradition that comes to mind when I think of my own childhood are the pj's Santa would drop off at our house on Christmas Eve. I guess I got those until the time I was 12-ish. Well like many things, that tradition as snowballed with my kids, nieces and nephews. Pretty much from the time my son was born, Christmas Eve was at my Dad's house. So when Steven was 1, Santa personally delivered his jammies. After that, my dad was concerned that his very dark beard was not being sufficiently covered by Santa's white beard, so Santa would knock on the door, the reindeer would jingle their bells, and the pj's would be waiting at the door. My son is almost 20, and my daughter is 16, and Santa will still be delivering their jammies to Amma and Pop-pop's house this year! My daughter has informed me that Santa better keep bringing those jammies as long as she lives at home. Knowing the Santa who lives in my house, it might continue after that!One of Dave's family traditions is that you have to guess what you gift is. This was hard for me because I really enjoy being surprised. But over the years it's gotten to be more fun. For years Dave's uncle would guess "toilet paper." So one year we wrapped some up and gave it to him. Dave's brother was such a good guesser when he was younger that one year I wrapped up a brick with his gift to throw him off. I've also been known to wrap really small gifts in really big boxes! When the entire clan used to get together there were so many people and so many gifts that it would take HOURS to get through it! We'd eat, open for hours, and eat again. This isn't something that we do on Christmas morning in our own home. But we really enjoy it when Dave's family gets together to celebrate Christmas.
Something else Dave's family does that we've adopted is the orange in the toe of the stocking. I had never heard of it before the Perines came into my life, but apparently it's a pretty common thing.
Another tradition from my family is that the mom hands out the gifts one by one on Christmas morning. That's because Santa always whispers what each gift is into the mom's ear when she is sleeping. To this day, my kids are amazed that I remember what is in each package. Truth be told, it's getting harder to remember by Christmas morning!
Up until I was about 7 or 8 years old, Santa brought our Christmas tree. It would show up on Christmas morning with the gifts. I told you my family is Christmas crazy! My parents did it again for a few years when my younger brother and sister were born.
A completely new tradition I started with my own kids is that every year I get them an ornament that represents something from the year. (Sometimes it's more than one ornament!) When I couldn't find what I wanted, I made them. Steven now has 20 Christmases of ornaments, and at this point he's really not that into decorating the tree! Since he's at college now when the tree goes up, I put up most of his and leave a few for him to put on when he gets home. I like that when my kids leave home for good, they will take a big box of ornaments with them that are full of memories.
Dave and I have always bought ornaments from anywhere we've traveled. Sometimes he will bring them home with him when he's been on a business trip. I also collect "nativity ornaments." But they can only have Jesus, Mary and Joesph...NO wisemen! I'll tell you about that in another post!
I could go on and on, and maybe some other time I will. I would really love if you would comment back to me and share some of your favorite traditions!
1 comment:
Like Dave, I always received a clementine in my stocking. We also opened only one gift at a time as my father handed them out.
I've continued the clementine in my kids stockings, and I purchase them an ornament that represents that year as it relates to them.
What I do very differently than I thought I ever would, is a Christmas day. I grew up either going to my grandmothers with 40-60 relatives on Christmas day (if we were in town) or having church family over for Christmas dinner. I did this several years until one year I spent most of the morning cooking while poking my head into the family room to say "ah look what Santa brought you." From that year on, Christmas has been ONLY our family. We get up, open gifts, I make Christmas brunch, we stay in our Pj's all day if we want. I don't rush to clean up the Christmas wrapping mess for company. We relax and enjoy each other. It hasn't gone over big with some of the extended family. But, I don't care. The world and family demands squeeze so much out of us all the other days, I'm reserving one day for us!
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