With Christmas pending the idea of traditions and memories of Christmases past are everpresent. Growing up our family did not hold a strong faith yet I was "forced" (not that it was so bad...) to attend Sunday School thereby participating in the Sunday School Christmas Concert every year. The excitement of a new Christmas dress, learning lines, new songs, maybe even playing the piano or clairinet in the pageant...oh! Those were the fun times! On Christmas Eve as many of our family as possible would gather for a dinner of steak and yams/sweet potatoes. This was my dad's idea and where it came from I'm not quite sure. This Eve meal tradition will not be carried on by me as I dislike both dishes and always have....even though I make a lovely Sweet Potato Surprise (that I never eat). Christmas morning was of course full of excitment and painful as we waited impatiently for dad to finish his coffee and cigarrette so that we could open presents. He sat on the floor beside the tree and distributed the gifts....which was another lesson in patience as sometimes the gift tag wasn't read properly or just read and passed out REALLY s-l-o-w!
Fast forward 24 years and my favorite husband and I are celebrating & hosting Christmas in our own home for the first time. What traditions will we carry over from our childhood? What traditions will we start anew? Well, first off, we will be opening one gift each on Christmas Eve which consists of a new pair of cozy pyjamas. This way we will all have snuggly new pjs for Christmas morn.
There will be NO steak and yams....no smoking & coffee...no waiting impatiently.
Presents will be opened one person at a time so we can all enjoy the gift giving extravaganza....not a free-for-all, paper shredding, hoopla to which I am accustomed. This more thoughtful way is from my favorite husband's childhood experience.
Will we make homemade ice cream Christmas morning and lick the giant beater? (Husband's tradition) This is yet to be seen.
A delicious strata or wife saver will be served for breakfast (I started this at home once I graduated from high school.) A 22lb turkey courtesy of my sister-in-law's parents will be roasted, copious amounts of food will be consumed, there will be NO TV, and somewhere in the day a family nap will take place. All in all a very good day. Not very faith oriented....which is something I need to give more thought to.
You've got some great traditions.. curious to hear how the ice cream turns out. I'm thinking of doing a Jesus birthday party on Boxing day. It's my way of including Jesus in a way that I think my girls can connect to. And I think it could be a fun tradition to build apon.
ReplyDeleteI find it interesting trying to figure out traditions and decide what you are going to keep or do new. I like hearing what other families do.
ReplyDeleteThe Jesus birthday party sounds like a fun one! A very non-traditional tradition =)
Happy Birthday Jesus! That's a great idea!
ReplyDeleteI saw the best ad in a Today's Parent magazine...the mall visit Santa scene, except it was a guy dressed as Jesus in the chair, not Santa..."Would you still take your kids to see him?"