Archive for the ‘celebrate it’ Category

Every year I try to have all my Christmas shopping and wrapping done the day before Christmas Eve.  Our family’s Christmas Eve traditions are something I’d hate to miss.

When my son was about 4, the build up and excitement for Christmas was starting to get over the top.  He was bouncing off the walls.  By Christmas Eve morning my husband worriedly suggested we do something to wear him out or Ben might never sleep that night.

So we loaded up the car and took the kids sledding.  And after a several hours of run after run, it did the trick.  By the time we got home, he was much more mellow, and even though he was still excited he fell right asleep that night.

Every year since, we’ve gone sledding on Christmas Eve.  It blows off steam, and afterward everyone is tired and happy.

Whenever you go sledding, you have to have hot chocolate.  So when we come home, we drink rich hot chocolate and decorate sugar cookies for Santa.  I always make the sugar cookies the day before, then all we have to do it frost and decorate.

That night we have a nice dinner, cooked by my husband and I, together.  Over dinner, my husband shares one of his favorite traditions from when he lived in England, Christmas Crackers.  They always bring a festive fun to our dinner.  For those who’ve never seen them, they are a small cylinder package tied on both ends.  When you pull the ends, they make a loud pop and a prize along with a paper crown burst out.  By the end of dinner every one is wearing their crown and enjoying their prize.

After dinner we eat my favorite dessert, Christmas bread pudding, made with croissants and Craisins.  It is out of this world and rich enough to put you to sleep on the spot.

Then my children open their pajamas and we read the Nativity story and get them to bed early so there is time for the magic to begin.  I think I love Christmas Eve almost as much as Christmas Day…

Memories of my childhood Christmases are filled with wonder.  I think of big snow, a new doll, and a warmth in our hearts that had nothing to do with our wood burning stove.

We never had big Christmases.  My parents didn’t allow us to ask Santa for a long list of gifts.  My mother’s rule was, you can ask Santa for one big gift and two small gifts.  My mother taught us that it would be greedy to ask for more.  I remember one Christmas, when I was about my son’s age of 9, I realized my friends asked for and received a lot more from Santa than I did.  “Why was he unfair?”  I asked my mother.

My mom explained that our family received what we needed each Christmas, and although our Christmases were small, that each gift was special.  Each gift was thoughtfully chosen and given with love.  It didn’t matter what my friends received, it mattered that we had a spirit of gratitude and love on Christmas day.

Since I have had my own family, I have come to realize how right my mother was.  One year my husband and I both received large(r) Christmas bonuses. Feeling flush and festive, we purchased our children more gifts than usual.  The morning felt frenetic.  My kids tore open their gifts, and seemed overwhelmed by what they had received.  That Christmas just wasn’t the same.

A small Christmas doesn’t have to mean less.  When small is done with love, it can truly be sweet.