1. Jesus: From setting up the nativity scene (which got changed around every couple hours when I was little) to Christmas eve service with the candlelight Silent Night and remembering the importance of His birth, Christmas has been centered on my families faith in Jesus and his impact on our lives.
2. Family: Traditions abound!
We always picked our tree from a u-cut tree place the weekend after Thanksgiving. We would go out, bundled, usually in the rain (yay Western Washington!) and the five of us (and the dog) would go pick out a tree. We never took very long, we are a pretty decisive family, but the trip out, the tree shaker, and the apple cider along with the candy cane on the way out of the tree farm was the first excitement of the season! (The tree farm we went to also had signs on the way in and out - they always said the same thing but we three kids all read them in a chorus each year anyway).
The storage for our Christmas decorations was accessed through my bedroom growing up, and I always had to clear away my stuff, pull open the door and crawl in on hands and knees to pull out the boxes and boxes of decorations. That began our day of playing Christmas music, setting up of outdoor lights and decorating the tree.
Mom always took us three girls out to buy our presents for Dad. That included lunch out and a whole day wandering the mall, counting how many people each of us knew and seeing who won our makeshift Christmas popularity contest.
Dad would then take each of us girls out on a Daddy daughter date. This is a tradition I kept even into my first year of marriage. I appreciated that one on one time shopping for mom and the Baskin Robbins 2 scoop hot fudge sundae with at least one scoop of mint chocolate chip ice cream, hot fudge, whipped cream, nuts and a cherry.
Christmas cookies. This one has evolved over the years. When I was younger, we used to go to my Grammie's house and decorate sugar cookies, ending up with dozens of cookies with varying degrees of artistic talent stored in our freezer for Christmas treats. Then, it turned into a more varied endeavor starting when my Grandma would come over for a few days and we would spend it making ginger cookies, spritz, snickerdoodles, chocolate chip cookies with red and green chips etc. Now, my Mom, my Aunt, and my sisters and I make our own collection of cookies together every year, a tradition that I cherish for the crazy antics that we all get into, and the delicious results of our labor. And for the fact that I get four to six different kinds of cookies while only having to make one of them (I make the Krumkake).
Christmas Eve was spent together as a family, going to church, dressing up, and then anxiously awaiting the next morning.
Christmas morning is Hot Chocolate, Santa presents, Stockings, watching the dog check out each and every present, wrapping paper balls thrown at Dad (the keeper of the trash bag) and mounds of presents laid out. This was followed by breakfast, showers, and then the re-laying out of presents on made beds so that everyone who came over in the afternoon could examine and ooh and aah over our haul.
Christmas afternoon included pool, lots of food, laughter and family. By seven o'clock we were usually conked out on the couch watching someone's Christmas present movie and thoroughly sated.
These past few years have changed our traditions as we are all getting married and have our own houses. I can't wait to see what new traditions we make for ourselves!
3. The Christmas Excitement: Christmas eve has never been a particularly easy to sleep night. All growing up my sister and I had adjacent rooms in the basement, and often we would talk through the wall to each other before giving up and getting up, spending time playing cards or talking. We would sometimes fall asleep around midnight, but then by about two thirty in the morning I would find myself awake again. I was always so excited I couldn't sleep. But I would BEG to sleep. I would pray, on my knees, asking God to help me sleep so it could be Christmas morning already! I even remember one year grabbing my cd player and listening to music hoping that it would help turn off my mind.
Christmas is God, Family, and Excitement. It is a time of year where joy fills the air, generosity is more important than what you receive and everyone takes time to spend time with each other. Now that we have all grown up it is harder and harder to make time to spend with each other. Christmas gives us multiple opportunities and we take advantage of every one.
Jesus is the reason for Christmas. His birth is the reason that we can be with God, but I'm glad that his birth gives us a reason to celebrate, and to spend time in joyous giving and receiving, in laughter and ridiculous antics, in relationship not only with our God, but with each other.
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