My dear friend, Heather, posted about Christmas traditions, what she'd hoped for and what is reality. I know that I have hoped for Christmas traditions too, but would like to show what reality looks like with us.
Every year, no matter what, in mid-November the weather is delightful with just a bit of a nip in the air. It is perfect for putting up outside decorations, but not turning them on until the day after Thanksgiving. I know that many of my neighbors and those of our little community take advantage of that lovely weather. We don't. I laugh about it because my husband absolutely LOVES decorating outside in the colder December chill. This year is a little different, however. A couple days ago we were talking about it and he just mentioned that since our trip to Florida last year and not decorating much at all, he's really just not "in to" decorating outside this year. I guess our trip last year affected more than just me, huh?
I love getting our Christmas tree. I would love to have it up the day after Thanksgiving so we can get all the bins and wrapping paraphernalia out of the living room, clean up and just enjoy the season without being concerned about the mess. But, alas, this year we didn't get a real tree. The tree place that we usually go to hasn't opened, at least to this point. We were really wanting to get the tree up, so we looked around at other places, but the prices were more expensive. The math going through my head and it was time to buy a prelit tree from the store and be done with it.
Little did I know or realize that the purchase of this tree would affect my 2 older children the way it has. They have fond memories of going to the tree place and picking out our real tree. They love to smell the evergreen smell and they love having to water the tree every day. They didn't care about the leftover pine needles at the end of the season. As much as I loved the thought of no needle clean up, spilled water and a tree sitting out in the frigid January snow by the front door until it was a little warmer to go down and burn it in the burn pile, my children loved it. I burst their holiday tradition bubble simply by buying a fake tree out of need for my own desire to keep things a little cleaner and have more control over when the tree goes up. It seems a little petty. I honestly didn't seek to upset them so. I didn't realize the tradition meant so much to them. It was just time to get a tree from the store.
Much like change in anyone's life, we don't really know how it will affect us or our families until after it occurs.
I would love to trek off in to the woods behind our house and get the perfect tree, but the woods are not our property. I remember going out in the woods with my Dad to get our Christmas tree. I had so much fun treking through the snow in the cold, having hot cocoa when we got back home alone with that wonderful runny nose that you get when you come in from being out in the super cold weather.
Things change with time, our families change, our needs change. One tradition that we've had ever since we were dating (yes, my husband and I dated), was that after Christmas Eve service at church, we went out to look at Christmas lights after stopping off at a convenience store to get hot cocoa or cappucino while listening to Christmas music on the radio. We've done this every year, with few exceptions. There have been years when my hubby couldn't get off work on Christmas Eve, so the children and I would do the same thing, but a little abbreviated, then head home. Some times we'd do it on hubby's day off, but nonetheless, it was an important tradition to us.
Another tradition that we do is bake and bake and bake tons of cookies for the neighbors, pastor, Dr's office and some quick breads for the mail man and others. We're not doing that so much this year. I'm realizing very much so, how much I relied on my mixer. Carpal Tunnel issues become quite a hindrance to making cookies, pizza dough and bread.
On Christmas Eve morning, we make our silver white cake and freeze it. We also make our sour cream coffee cake for Christmas morning. This year it is especially important since we have church on Christmas morning. The ham will go in to the roaster before we leave. After we get home, we'll have lunch, then get the potatoes boiled for Au Gratin Potatoes. We'll make the white frosting and decorate the white cake. We'll get the veggie casserole in the oven too. All while enjoying time together with our children. What about presents this year? We will give those presents out, but we haven't decided when yet. We may wait until after church. For the first time in years, my children will not receive toys from us. What a bittersweet moment for this Momma's heart. But, I think we have enough Nerf guns in our house for each family member to have at least one. We could do a rousing Nerf gun battle! LOL That would be a family first for us! LOL
Usually when we wake up on Christmas morning, we make a pot of coffee and when Momma and Daddy have their coffee, we go open gifts to one another as a family. It is a very quiet morning without any rushing or needing to go to this family member's house or that family member's house. It is a little sad for us, but over the years we've become accustomed to the peacefulness. We started staying home on Christmas mornings from the very beginning of our marriage. My dear sweet MIL wanted us to come for Christmas breakfast, but I told her that we were going to have our own Christmas in the morning, then we'd be over in the evening for dinner. Since they've moved to Florida, we haven't seen them for Christmas as often as we'd like. I know that I miss family gatherings. But there isn't much we can do about it at this point in time. I have truly loved staying home for Christmas, but there is just something about seeing family for the holidays.
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