Family Christmas Traditions

The Christmas gifts are wrapped, which means I'm basically done for the holiday. The only thing I have left to do is make a pot of soup for our family get-together on the 22^nd. I'm not sure what I'll do for the next two weeks to keep the Christmas spirit alive! Somewhere along the line, hubby and I will watch “It's A Wonderful Life”. It's not quite Christmas until I've seen that. I'm enjoying the peppermint hot chocolate mix I bought yesterday.

I'm one of those people who loves Christmas shirts. Not the ugly sweaters, but I do have a “thing” for Christmas t-shirts. It's kind of fun this year to be able to wear them whenever I want. I've worn them to work over the years, but I always tried not to over-do it by wearing them every day. At my last job we were allowed to wear nice jeans, but I still tried not to over-do the Christmas shirts. This year, it doesn't matter. I can wear them as often as I want!

When I was a kid, like most kids I felt like Christmas would never come! If I looked at the calendar and realized it was December 11, it would come with a groaning realization that it was still TWO WHOLE WEEKS until Christmas. It would be a shorter length of time, of course, until school ended for the Christmas break. And I'm one of those December babies, so I could look forward to my birthday being in just ten days.

Also in that very long two weeks would be a Christmas program at school. There would be a Christmas program at church. There would be a Christmas party and gift exchange at school. And did I mention that my birthday was coming up? There would be a birthday supper with our neighbors up the hill. There were Christmas cards coming almost daily in the mail to look at. It was always exciting when someone had sprung for a photo card. Those were so neat – we never did that.

When I was little, my grandmother would come down from Independence to spend Christmas at our house, either on the bus or on the train. Often her sister would come with her. Dad would pick up Grandpa and he would be at the house with us as well. So those arrivals were also a “break in the action” before Christmas. They would come a day or two before Christmas – so there was cooking and cleaning to be done. Grandma would often do some cooking and baking after she arrived.

Families have different customs at Christmas time. Our routine was that I went to bed on Christmas Eve, and on Christmas morning there were presents under the tree – tons of presents, all for me because I'm an only child. Most of the toys were just sitting there, though I think there may have been some that were wrapped. Everything Grandpa got me was wrapped – amazingly, usually with the same wrapping paper Santa had used. He often got me clothes, and they were always the right size. Did I ever mention that he went to town shopping with Mom and Dad every week?

Occasionally, I would read a book about family Christmas traditions that would trigger something in my overactive little brain. Now, I can really sympathize with Mom and Dad trying to out-think me! For instance, one year right at bedtime on Christmas Eve, I decided I should hang a stocking up. I'd never done that before, but I'd read about it and it sounded like a really neat idea. Besides, who knew what small treasures Santa might add to that stocking! We didn't have Christmas stockings, but that didn't slow me down. I pulled out one of my socks and hung it on a doorjamb with a thumb tack. I seemed to notice some frantic looks between Mom and Dad, but I didn't pay much attention. I was excited. And who knew Santa gave money!!! I believe there was a half dollar in that sock on Christmas morning!

Another year, I came to the sudden realization that while Santa was very good to me, along with the grandparents and other relatives – I could not think of a single thing in my entire life that Mom and Dad had ever given me for Christmas. That just wasn't right! Of all the people who loved me, Mom and Dad were at the top of the list. And yet I'd never had a Christmas gift from them. What was with that! As I recall, I let them know how I felt about that! I was probably around 8 that year....it's a miracle I made it to 9. But I got a gift from them that year – I think it was a bottle of nail polish, but it was enough.