Christmas Traditions From My Childhood

Has anyone ever given much thought into how you choose to celebrate the Christmas holiday season? Are your celebrations more religious or not? Is there something that your family does together every year without fail? Growing up, like most people, I never really gave much thought in holiday traditions, and how they varied so widely. What I would do to just to be a kid again, and to experience the holiday from that point of view? The way I celebrated the Christmas holiday, according to my family's traditions, was such an indisputable ordeal. Mom would always start preparing for the big day weeks before Thanksgiving was even celebrated yet. She would gather all the toy catalogs she could find, and my brother and I would sit with paper and pencil in hand making the long list of everything we could even possibly dream of receiving that holiday season. We knew that she had started her shopping soon after our list making routine because her room and closets would suddenly become off limits to my brother and I, as she was storing presents in her closet before wrapping. Mom's desk would become cluttered with Christmas cards as she prepared them for mailing. Dad would be given the duty to start getting Christmas lights ready and up for the big reveal the day after Thanksgiving. Oh, what a sight to behold it always was! Before we could even realize it, Thanksgiving weekend would arrive and family we had not seen all year would gather at the central location of my grandparent's house for the big meal. The women of the family would take advantage of the day's gathering by having our Christmas menu and itinerary planned amongst each other before our turkey was ever gone. Of course, the men never had much say in the planned events, because they were suffering from the effects of tryptophan or more interested in the day's football happenings. After Thanksgiving, as a kid, the days until Christmas seemed to just creep by so slowly. Maybe it was partly because school would let out for Christmas break a week before the holiday, and we were home all day watching Mom make preparations and anticipating the day's arrival? To cure some of our boredom, even though we already knew every one by heart, Mom would always make my brother and I watch all the Christmas specials that came on television. The inside of the house would soon get that holiday spirit, just as the outside already had, thanks to Dad. The tree went up soon after Thanksgiving would pass. Mom and Dad would pick a night the following week, and as a family we would decorate the tree while reminiscing of holidays past. Ornament and light boxes littered the living room, and we would drink eggnog and eat Christmas cookies. I can remember the house always had that holiday smell, as Mom was constantly baking and giving her baked goods away as gifts to friends and neighbors. We also spent that one night when everyone would all pile into the car and go see Christmas lights all around town. We would follow that up with a visit to Santa at the mall. The presents under the tree would then begin to pile up. All the while, my brother and I could hardly contain ourselves from wanting to open them. The weekend before Christmas day brought the family together again at grandma's house. Small gifts would be exchanged and this is when we chose to eat our Christmas dinner. The women and men got to catch up on what they forgot to brag about at Thanksgiving. Usually the women would also spend time talking about how they spent too much on Christmas gifts, and the men talked about hunting season. This was also the time that my brother and I received those gifts that we would have rather not to receive. It never failed that either my grandmother or aunt gave us that one clothing item that they were so sure we would look cute in. Luckily, Mom was good at agreeing with us if we didn't like our gift. Still, to us kids, it was just a teaser to the big Christmas morning when we could open all of our gifts. Christmas Eve and Christmas morning was always spent alone as a family, just the four of us. We spent Christmas Eve watching the news, as the weather man always kept us aware of where Santa's sleigh was at the moment. Mom baked her last batch of cookies for the season, so that cookies and milk could be laid out for Santa when he arrived that night. This was that one night of the year Mom didn't have to fight with my brother to get him to sleep. In fact, the both of us were usually asleep by nine o' clock that night. Our thoughts were the sooner we were asleep, the sooner Christmas morning would arrive.

Christmas morning finally arrived with us waking up Mom and Dad so that we could open presents. Santa always filled the living room with toys and filled our stockings with Christmas candy. We spent the morning opening gifts, eating candy, and playing with toys. Family and friends called Mom and Dad nonstop on the phone wishing us a good day. Our afternoon found us napping after all that excitement. By night, however, we were already planning and anticipating what we wanted for the next Christmas. Just like that it was all over.

Now that I have children of my own, Christmas is celebrated very much the same way as I did as a child. There are a few differences, though. Now, I try to take time to sit and think about the religious meaning behind the holiday, and explain that to my kids. Unfortunately, that was something my parents never really did. We have added a tradition in my house to include picking an angel off the Angel Tree at the mall when we visit Santa. Then, as a family we take pride in picking out presents for that angel together. With better Santa tracking technology in place, now our Santa tracking is done all on line on Christmas Eve, rather than relying on the weather man. I can only hope that my children will grow up to appreciate the way we celebrate Christmas, and carry on some of our traditions with their families. I know there are many different ways families celebrate the season. This is how we do in our family. However you celebrate the season, Happy Holiday to you and your family!