Christmas Traditions

Christmas to me is all about family. One of the things that makes families unique and special is their traditions. My parents, specifically my Mom, always had a lot of traditions in regards to holidays. A lot of those I'm passing on to Abby, but Mike and I are making new ones ourselves too. Some we've come up with togetther, some we've "borrowed" from other sources.

Watching holiday specials was always an exciting part of Christmas when Dave and I were kids. We'd always make sure that we didn't miss our favourites. The last couple of nights have been my first chance to share that with Abby. The night before last we watched Frosty the Snowman. Or Crusty the Snowman as Abby insisted on calling him. Mike or I hadn't seen that show in years and we surprised ourselves with how much we remembered. Mike was very impressed with the animation in spite of the fact it was made in 1951. Last night we watched a Mickey Christmas Carol which simplfied the story a bit for the younger set. We talked about the show on Abby's way to bed and I was surprised at how well she seemed to grasp the story. She had a particular interest in Tiny Tim. I can't wait to check what's on tonight. The Grinch is my favourite but we have both the cartoon and the live action on DVD so we watch that one well into the summer months.

After my Dad died, as a way to remember him we would light a candle on Christmas Day. In the beginning it started out as being for my Dad, but as time went on more and more people got added to the list. Mike was surprised to hear we actually did this. These days we all just gather for Christmas and the candle is already there, lit. I guess we don't actually discuss the meaning of it anymore. This year my Mom gifted us with an angel candle holder of our own. With having lost Papa Joyce just a couple of months ago Mom thought we'd like to carry on the tradition at our house to help keep her important to Abby. It's also a nice starting point for teaching her to remember the people who were important to Mike and I as well. The ones she didn't get a chance to meet. Receiving that gift was an emotional moment as I'm sure it will be when it comes time to light our own candle for the first time.

A new tradition I'm trying out is getting all my wrapping done well before it's needed. Usually I wait until the last minute and then wrap like crazy. The downside of that is afterwards my house looks like a North Pole war zone with wrapping and ribbon everywhere. So the other night while watching Survivor I got about 95% of my wrapping done. I was going to lug everything back upstairs, but Mike thought they would look nicer under the tree. More to that story in a minute.

After many years of talking about this, we finally did it. This year as a family project with Dad, Linda and Jeff we adopted a family through Mission Services. I'll be honest with you, Abby is one spoiled little girl come Christmas time and Mike and I don't do too badly ourselves. We are very lucky to have many generous parents between us. I don't have a real problem with that *wink*. I realize and appreciate they enjoy being able to "spoil" Abby, as Grandparents should. I also feel stongly that I should be teaching Abby the joy of giving as well as receiving. So Monday afternoon we all hit WalMart to shop for our adopted family. Mike was excited to buy for the two boys in the family. For the first time since Abby was born he got to pick out toys cars and lego instead of Barbie dolls and My Little Pony. I realize Abby's still a little young to fully grasp the concept, but Linda explained to her that we were going to buy some Christmas presents for 2 little boys. We kept her role in the project on a smaller scale. Mike picked out some Hot Wheels tracks for both boys and we let Abby pick out some extra cars for both of them. She also picked out some colouring books. That was about as much of the project she could handle, so while Mike, Linda and I shopped for groceries for the family we shipped Abby and Papa off to McDonald's for a bite to eat. I mention this, not because I'm looking to hear what nice people we are, but hopefully it will make somebody else think about how they could make the holiday season a little nicer for somebody. It doesn't have to be on the scale that we did, donating a few cans to the food drive, putting a few bucks in the Salvation Army bucket or shovelling a neighbour's drive way. No effort is too small.

Last night Mike and I sat together wrapping the gifts for this family, wondering about who they were and hoping they would like what we had picked out for them. I loaded all the gifts for the kids into two giant gift bags, one for each of them. We had also purchased a box of chocolates for the family that I had also wrapped and left on the coffee table to tuck in with their groceries. This afternoon after gymnastics we got home and I headed for the bathroom. While I was using the facilities Abby came bursting in yelling, Mommy come see what's inside! I had an idea of what she'd been up to, so it wasn't a huge surprise when I found out she had unwrapped the box of chocolates I had left on the coffee table. Next thing you know she's standing in front of me with a gift in her hand from under the tree, "what's in this one?" When I explained that it wasn't a gift for her and she'd have to put it back, well on came the water works. Not that I could blame her. I mean it's a stack of gifts under the tree and she's only 3 years old. I tried to explain that to Mike, but he thought she should learn that not everything is for her. So we've agreed that this is his issue to deal with. So far he seems to be handling it well. There hasn't been any more unauthorized unwrappings and no crying to speak of. Way to go Michael!!