The anticipation of opening our presents was tough and Dad made it tougher. We had to wake up everyone first and Dad insisted we eat breakfast before going over to the tree. Sometimes we were worried whether Santa made it to our house or not since Dad would make a big show of stoking up the fire in the fireplace and tell us that there was no way Santa was getting into our house.
Stockings were opened first and always had an apple or orange, peanuts, and candy (Whitman's sampler and Lifesavers storybook box). Then there would be small toys, jewelry, makeup, socks, and other trinkets. For many years we got a Toblerone candy bar. My poor mom always seemed to have cooking utensils in her stocking and Dad had us kids convinced that all Mom ever wanted was cooking stuff.
After we opened presents, we got ready to go to Grandma and Grandpa's house. That involved a two-hour drive but it was worth it. We loved playing with our cousins and Grandma not only made a great dinner but wonderful pies and cookies for all. My sister, Kathy, and I would play Christmas songs by Alvin and the Chipmunks, singing and dancing along, taking over the living room. All of the kids would slide down the stairs and play games that modern kids couldn't imagine (no electronics involved).
Getting married led to some new traditions. The biggest one was attending midnight mass. My husband was raised Catholic and that was a big part of his family's Christmas traditions. It was wonderful to spend the first moments of Christmas Day celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. As the years went by it was our way of feeling like we could still be with our family even though we were far away. All of us were at mass at the same time, no matter where we were.
Some traditions changed since we rarely had a chance to travel the long distances to be with family and because we were merging two different backgrounds. I love knowing the stories behind our ornaments and insist on being the only one to put certain precious ornaments on the tree. I was used to significant presents being under the tree but I married someone who likes to put some of the best presents in or next to the stockings. We also took on his family's tradition of seeing a movie on Christmas Day. As we get closer to Christmas we get excited about picking out what movie we will save for that day. We used to light candles on the Advent wreath but lately we haven't managed to get our Christmas stuff out of storage in time to do it.
I hadn't thought much about what our own children would enjoy in our traditions. They started bringing girlfriends along to midnight mass. Our oldest mentioned last week how much he looked forward to packs of cards in his stocking. From Pokemon to Yu-Gi-Oh to Magic cards. "It's like the Christmas lottery!" It's so different having our kids out of the house now and waiting for them to come over so we can open presents. Some day we will be watching them develop their own Christmas traditions.
What are the Christmas traditions you look forward to?
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