For instance, we’ve NEVER been Black Friday shoppers. Never. Gonna. Happen. Too many crowds. Too many crazies. And I can’t think of a single worldly possession I would ever wait in line for. Nope. Not a one. Besides, I love my bed too much to leave it on the cozy Friday morning after Thanksgiving indulgence.
We have also NEVER decorated the outside of our house with lights. This is as much because the previous owner did not have the foresight to install outdoor electrical outlets as anything else, but I’m fairly certain we wouldn’t, even if we could. It’s just not really “us”. Isn’t it funny how, as a family, you develop your own style? There is a certain flash and attention expectation that comes with outdoor lighting displays. We tend to be a bit more understated and casual in our celebrations. I have no desire for slow-moving carloads of people gawking at our home.
On the flip side, a live tree is ALWAYS the centerpiece to our festivities. Growing up, we had fake trees until my family moved to Colorado. I’m pretty sure it’s a residency requirement to buy a real tree in the Mile High state:) Needless to say, we were hooked and never looked back. My grandparents on my dad’s side always had a real tree…the Charlie Brown kind; looking all sparse and bare, but decorated beautifully with heirloom ornaments and small wooden ones my brother and I would paint. My husband had grown up with real trees as well, so it was a natural progression to keep the tradition and pass the tree selection duties to our boys.
When it comes to adorning said tree, traditions abound! It’s ALWAYS my husband’s job to take care of the lights. Early on, my allergies prevented me from rubbing up against those pesky needles too much. As the years have gone by, it has become evident my husband is fairly particular about the appearance of the lights and needing them to shine ‘just so’. Once the tree is up and lit beautifully (including the star on top), it’s my turn:) The first trimmings are strands of beads…long ropes of opalescent and gleaming red pearls.
The first Christmas my husband and I shared (before we were married, *gasp*), we were living in a small condo, both working full time in the restaurant, and had very little money to spare. But I couldn’t imagine Christmas without a tree, so I pulled out the mini table-top Christmas tree from my college days and (lacking any ornaments) proceeded to decorate it with the meager jewelry I owned. Earrings hung from the branches, a brooch stood in for the star at the top, and strung around the branches were my costume jewelry pearls. It wasn’t much, but it was ours, and it was the beginning of ‘our story’. So, every year when I string the beads, I fondly remember where we started and say a little prayer of thanksgiving for how far we’ve come.
So much of tradition comes from family and trying to relive or reinvent memories from our childhood. The excitement, anticipation and surprise that comes on Christmas morning provides constant motivation on my part to make magic happen! My parents used to require my brother and I to go through our old clothes and toys every year around Christmas. We would place these under the tree and Santa would take them to boys and girls who needed them more than we did, and they would be replaced with the most glorious, shiny new things!! These ‘Santa’ presents were never wrapped (how could Santa possibly find the time to wrap anything?!), so they were the first things that caught our eyes on Christmas morning!
We’ve kept this tradition in our family, with a slight twist…our boys do leave their used (read ‘grown out of’) clothes and toys for Santa under the tree on Christmas Eve. But in our house, Santa is responsible for filling the stockings. When we all go to bed on Christmas Eve night, our stockings hang empty. Magically, they are filled to the brim Christmas morning! And, Santa has wrapped everything in the stockings…usually in colorful tissue paper, rather than wrapping paper, but certainly in a different pattern than those presents stacked under the tree ;)
One of the boys’ favorite traditions is the opening of one gift on Christmas Eve. This was a new one I adopted when the boys were very young, after hearing it from some other new moms. Every year the boys get new pajamas and they get wrapped up as gifts under the tree. That’s the one gift they get to open the night before Christmas. Then they get to wear their new p.j.’s, all soft and cuddly, to count sugar plums in their beds and listen for the reindeer hooves on the roof! As the years passed, I started making sure my husband and I got new pajamas, too, so it’s now a family event!
Each year brings with it a slight tweak to previously well-guarded traditions. Sometimes we make grandma’s candy cane cookies, while other years we stick to the ‘Pillsbury cookies-in-a-tube’. Depending on our work schedule before Christmas, my husband and I may or may not be able to steal away an evening of shared chai tea lattes while finishing our last minute shopping. And another thing that has changed is how we spend Christmas Day. When the boys were young, we found ourselves traveling on Christmas Day to visit the grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins; spending all day going house-to-house giving and then accumulating gifts, only to find ourselves stuffed, exhausted and often in the midst of temper-tantrums by over-stimulated little people.
A few years ago, I suggested we stay home on Christmas Day. Anyone is welcome to visit us, but they may very well find us still in our jammies at three in the afternoon, with dirty dishes stacked in the sink and the remnants of torn wrapping and ribbon around the tree. We’ll welcome you with warm hugs and a fresh pot of coffee, but don’t expect make-up on my face or the table set with our finest china. Never. Gonna. Happen.
Wishing you and yours health, happiness, hope, and love this Christmas season!