Today's blog is brought to you by Laura Gawletz of Stretch Remarks. Laura is a mother of two and writes about being honest about parenting, healthy choices and home in her blogs!
Today we went and spent some time at my Auntie’s. She was excited to share one of her favourite Christmas movies with us. One of her family’s favourite traditions is getting together to watch holiday movies. When I was a child I did not realize that all families had different ways of celebrating the holidays. We moved around quite a bit and you would think my life would be so different from year to year. However, my parents really had a way of practicing holiday traditions that glued the houses and our experiences together. These are some examples of my favourite family Christmas Traditions, and how no matter where we were, our holidays were magical. I would love to follow, bring some of my husband’s family traditions and create some in my own family so that my children will feel as fond about the holidays as I do.
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#10 Celebrating the Advent Season:
Durning Advent, Mom would hide the Mary and Joseph of our nativity scene throughout the house. They were on their travels before Christmas. Jesus was never in the manger until Christmas morning. It was like our version of Elf on a Shelf, except they didn’t dive into the marshmallows or play with ribbons. However, for my Advent’s at home I am thinking I might get Mary and Joseph to do some fun things each day and mix the two ideas. Finding them was my favourite part of Advent. My sisters and I did not get to keep a Chocolate Advent Calendar. I only remember one year where I got one and I had to wait until after Christmas to eat all the little chocolates. Imagine a child, opening the doors each day, and not getting to eat the tiniest little chocolate ever made. No harm done, I turned out okay. I do however, fondly remember the Advent wreath we kept and lit at home. Every night before dinner, Mom would light the Advent wreath. I know that this is a practice many families do at home. Even if we didn’t get the tree up until later in the season, the wreath was on the table, getting us excited for the holiday! It is a memory that highlighted the season for me, and so I will hope to carry on this tradition in preparation for Christmas. I enjoyed getting to light the candles as I grew up. During Advent, we donated. We did not get many treats in December. Looking back I realize it was to save and provide us with the best holiday my parents could. Just like in Lent though, when we went grocery shopping in Advent, Mom would take any extra money that would maybe go towards a treat during the normal year and bought food for the food bank. If we didn’t donate at the grocery store, we would get assigned a less fortunate family to buy presents for. It was a tradition that showed us we did not need the treats. We can do without a chocolate bar in the line up, when someone else gets to eat a meal or have a present to open. We were always encouraged to give back year round. We still are.
#9 Decorating the Tree as a Family:
Each year was the same. Even though some years we had a real tree and some years we had an artificial tree – each year was the same. Mom and Dad would set up the tree, get the branches to fall just right. After some discussion, the tree was spun until just perfectly set. Then the discussion was louder as the lights were strung. Then it was all Mom as she hung the garland just right. There was drooping red layers at the the bottom and more glittery strands towards the top. Finally, that evening, one by one we were handed an ornament from Mom to put on the tree. We enjoyed sharing stories and memories of each special ornament. Dad would help hang the tall ones. I liked that we shared this as a family every year. The ornaments even had traditional spots on the tree. It was predictable but cozy. The tinsel was such a tedious job, but Mom liked making each strand look like an icicle dangling. No clumps allowed! I enjoy putting up the decorations with my husband and son, now sons. My four year old loves decorating the house and the tree especially. There are groups of ornaments all over the bottom of the tree. This is totally fine with me because I love that he likes examining them for the whole season.
#8 Not Picking Names:
These days our families are growing. Over time we have decided to switch off who we exchange gifts with. We have changed from picking names to now doing just the nephews. I’m okay with this, I really just need to see family and let the little ones open the gifts. However, growing up I enjoyed having all the siblings and parents give to one another. I enjoyed picking little gifts for my older sisters, or drawing them pictures on their cards. Mom and Dad encouraged us to give. Finding or making small items for each other was fun. I have a lot of memories of buying small gifts at craft fairs for my sisters. I’m sure they were not the best presents but it was the spirit of giving that mattered. I hope that my children grow up wanting to make or find things that they recognize would make other people happy.
#7 Keeping Presents Hidden:
In our home, presents were not under the tree prior to the morning of Christmas. We all bought, or made gifts for each other, and hid them in our rooms. Any gifts that was given to us from our extended family were kept hidden from us as well. Then on Christmas Eve, my sisters and I would bring our family gifts and put them beside our stockings. On Christmas morning, the surprise was a huge bunch of gifts under the tree organized by Santa himself! It was wonderful to have a big surprise to stare at! This made the morning wait time entertaining. We could peek from an arms length to look at tags and wonder what was inside. No touching, otherwise they would all turn to dust! Sometimes there was measuring from a distance, if you’re my sister.
#6 Baking Day:
I mostly enjoyed the eating portion of the dough and baking, in general. However I was always excited for the blasting of Christmas music on a warn out old cassette. Baking day was fun. I know now as an adult that it is a daunting task and a whole lot of work. Mom will probably also say, it wasn’t just one day. In my head it was one gigantic day of bowls of dough in the fridge, trays spread out and flour on the counter. Out of the left over dough, Mom would get us to make Dad his own jam danish. I’m not sure it was a danish exactly. Dough folded into a star with jam in the middle and baked with butter on top… In any case – none of us ever got to eat it. I think that might be one of Dad’s favourite traditions.
#5 Carolling:
After working in retail you come to hate the last day before Christmas. My retail scars are beginning to heal finally and I can look back at the fun years of the night before Christmas. The tradition has evolved now a days. We try to get together before the holidays with cousins and even after the new year to connect and share a meal. While we were growing up, Christmas Eve was an event! We would usually go to church, and then gather with family after. There would be treats and snacks to share! I loved the food. The best part of the night, and probably most debated/hated/missed is the carolling. We did not go door to door. We sat in a big circle and all read off lyric sheets. Some people would say they did not… but everyone enjoyed it. We each got to pick a carol and we would all have to join in singing. The songs were owned by certain people and you would not dare say someone else’s before it was the correct turn. There were different lyric sheets, so it would take a bunch of time for people to coordinate the correct pages and numbers. Everyone knew the words but still we wasted time as people insisted on having the song in front of them. These days we do not often have time to get out the carol books, but it is something I’d like to make sure happens with my children on Christmas Eve at home. How will our children learn the songs if they aren’t forced to sing them off key in a group?
#4 Stockings Only:
On Christmas morning, not before 7:30AM, we would wake up each sister one by one, depending on who was up first. Slowly we’d creep into the dimly lit living room where just the tree’s lights were sparkling. There under the tree, a bunch of never before seen presents would be laid out. Of course, we’d shake our Mom and Dad awake begging them to come to where the stockings were stuffed with goodies for the morning! The stockings were the only things we could open before brunch! We couldn’t touch anything else orlegend said it would all turn to dust. Only one year did we dare touch a tag. We flipped it over in hopes of seeing who the art easel would be given to. Why would Santa leave a present unwrapped, knowing that we couldn’t read who it was to? It didn’t turn to dust to our surprise! But we would have never tried again. We had to occupy ourselves with whatever treasures were in the stockings. Digging through the stocking was a tradition in itself. First was the gifts (sometimes even wrapped). This is different for my husband, and he only just started wrapping stocking gifts. We would usually receive a game or puzzle item that would get us through the morning. We would also usually receive a bunch of candy in a baggie to munch while opening presents or to scarf down while finishing stockings, right Dad? There would maybe be an item to complete our Christmas outfit or hair clips. In addition to the surprises we relied on the traditional gifts. Every year, we would dig through and unwrap a new toothbrush! Who doesn’t need a new toothbrush? Man, Santa really knew what he was doing. At the toe of the stocking would be one of the favourites. At last, we would reach to the bottom of the sock an orange filled the toe. Simple, not crazy or expensive.
#3 Brunch First:
Usually, we would have gone to church the night before, so Christmas morning brunch was the biggest hurdle to achieve before opening gifts. A wonderful brunch of the Eve’s left overs and some bacon and eggs! Finally, Meat! Of course it was delicious, but what were all thinking was how fast can we finish, get the dishes done and convince our Dad that he didn’t need a nap before gifts this year! Every year after cleaning up the table Dad would insist that he was tired, he needed a nap! Looking back I’m sure he did! We learned later that often he and Mom were wrapping gifts all night on Christmas Eve! When I was young I didn’t care how tired he was: I had waited all year for this; waited all morning for this…time to get started! It was an even longer morning if we didn’t get to church the night before! I guess the waiting made it more exciting to spend the whole afternoon together opening gifts.
#2 Opening Presents One by One:
On TV or in movies we often see Christmas morning as a mass chaos of ribbons, bows, paper and presents scattered around the room. It seems as though everyone has a race to open presents! I’m not sure how this is in real life. If people do this I’d love to hear how it all goes down because that is the exact opposite of our opening presents tradition. We would all get a spot in the room and one at a time our Dad would hand us a gift. We all had to wait our turn. Opening gifts would take all afternoon, but we enjoyed it! We got to see and acknowledge each item, and see what everyone got! It was fun, and I don’t think I could have it any other way. However, it would be interesting to see a random opening fest!
#1 Creating new traditions and reliving old ones with my children and nephews! Seeing the holidays through a child’s eyes is a beautiful experience. I like observing how breathtaking everything is for each child as they grow. They are still surprised. The holiday spirit is so genuine and contagious! Every year I get more moved by how thrilled my son is and how magical the Christmas season is for him! Kids keep the spirit of the season alive!
Now that I’ve grown up, I understand that families all have different traditions. These rituals make the family unique and the holidays special. It interests me where each tradition begins and how families keep these traditions going, or how they evolve. Some people have every gift from Santa in the stockings, and not under the tree. Some families open presents on Christmas Eve, or get a new pair of pajamas. My sister’s family cut down their own Christmas tree each year. Every year Santa brings my son a new Christmas book in his stocking. I want to make sure I keep some traditions going and that my husband and I start some of our own. Whatever the tradition, keep it up! The memories and family experiences are the real spirit of the season.
