a place to put random discourses on life
Christmas and otherwise.
Published on December 12, 2004 By lifehappens In Blogging
This was going to be a blog about traditions in general and how as you get married, some are discarded, some are changed and some are preserved. However after writing I realized that my favorite tradition is the one that most people find strange.

First a typical "American Traditional Christmas" : Kids wake parents up at crack of dawn. Kids are tired because they didn't get much sleep so they can be a trife cranky. Parents having spent the previous night puting together a bike and sending kids back to bed over and over...are tired as well and also on the short tempered side. Everyone has messy hair and looks horrible in photos. All the kids dive into the huge pile of gifts and simultaniously tear open all the gifts....giving santa credit for all the christmas joy. The parents, exhausted, now clean up and deal with overtired kids that have just ODed on candy from the stockings.....

Now, I will tell you about how I traditionally celebrated the holiday. Christmas Eve day is spent playing in the snow, sledding until our noses turned bright red. When we come inside at last there is hot chocolote and one gift waiting for us....it's always a warm pair of flannel pajamas. We spend the rest of the afternoon watching Frosty the Snowman or other Christmas specials, playing board games and relaxing. That night, we sit down in front of a twinkling Christmas tree. The music is softly playing in the background, candles are glowing. We read the Christmas story as a family and talk about the true meaning of Christmas. There are finger foods lined on the table for us...we have cheese and crackers and marzipan and crab dip and egg nog etc etc...then the youngest child gets to help Dad pass out the gifts. We all sit quietly in a circle till all the presents are handed out. Then one at a time we open a gift and show it off and then thank the person who gave it to us with a big hug. it's a quiet family time where instead of being focused on "me me me", we could enjoy watching them open the gift we picked out and we could thank the person who took the time to think of us. After all was said and done, we were allowed to play in our rooms until midnight (thats when Santa showed up) Christmas morning, we all slept in and played in our rooms when we woke up until Dad came to tell us that pancakes were ready. After a pancake eating contest between my brothers, we would open our stockings and the gift that "santa" brought.

Everyone has traditions. And invariably traditions have to meld or change when you get married because sometimes the other person thinks they are wierd. However, these two traditions, his and mine do not mesh. It is one or the other.

So JU, what do you think? Should I continue to try to convert my husband to my ideallic Christmas or shoudl I give up and go the mass hysteria route?

Comments
on Dec 12, 2004
Way to spin the choice, there, Life. 'Ideal Christmas vs Mass Hysteria' ? I guess we know how you feel, no ambivilence there. I personally have always felt your argument of kids thinking santa brought the gifts and the parents not getting the credit for it is just a little selfish; the spirit of giving is all about the joy the gift gives the reciever, and thus the giver. If we're keeping some tally sheet, it nullifies the meaning. There's nothing like the joy of waking up on a sleepy christmas morning, and wandering out into the living room and finding the COLORED lights on the tree winking reflectinons off the wrapping of a stack of new gifts. Do you want to rob your kids of that? That would make you worse than the Grinch. That would make you the Anti-Christmas. But, because I love you and I know you too want to suffuse our home with love and warmth, especially in the holidays, I will trust you to do as you think best. And if I could be there for just 10 minutes, I wouldn't care if we opened gifts on easter.

Unfortunately, you're going to be spending Christmas with my folks, and they wont put up with any of this christmas eve nonsense. I hope you're willing to be flexible, cuz Dad may be old, but he can still whip out the 1SG voice...
on Dec 12, 2004

And if I could be there for just 10 minutes, I wouldn't care if we opened gifts on easter.


Amen to that......


We always waited until Chrsitmas morning.  None of the gifts got put under the tree until all the kids had gone to bed on Christmas Eve, and we had to wait until after breakfast to open them...and then it was done in an orderly fashion.


This year, we're having our family christmas on christmas eve, cos we're going to be on the road christmas day to go to D's folks place.  Ours will be orderly....theirs is mass hysteria.

on Dec 12, 2004
HW, as I recall, you said...."I'm going to open a can of literary whoop-ass on your heathen ways" all I can say is, "nice try".

Way to spin the choice

Hey, this is my blog and I can spin anything I want so neiner neiner neiner!

I personally have always felt your argument of kids thinking santa brought the gifts and the parents not getting the credit for it is just a little selfish; the spirit of giving is all about the joy the gift gives the reciever, and thus the giver. If we're keeping some tally sheet, it nullifies the meaning.


Haven't you been a kid and spent hours making some pencil holder or something and then had your gift ingored because your brother got a train set? I'm just saying I like to see people open the gifts. it's nice to have them say thinks but even if it's from "Santa", I still want to see the look of joy on thier face and that's hard to do when you have everyone tearing through everything all at once with no regard for others.

That would make you the Anti-Christmas

Fine, then I'm taking back your Hurst Trigger shifter and the 3 inch exhaust.

And if I could be there for just 10 minutes, I wouldn't care if we opened gifts on easter

Well, maybe you can still have your presents.

Dad may be old, but he can still whip out the 1SG voice...

I love your Dad and he doesn't scare me.....unless he whips out his 1SG voice. Why do you think he convinced me to fly instead of drive?
on Dec 12, 2004
I think your Christmas tradition sound gorgeous. My favorite part is reading the Christmas story on Christmas Eve and reflecting on the real meaning.

We try to have a "serene" and "tranquil" Christmas, but with 6 year old twins and a 8 year old......well, we usually lose.