It’s Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas!

Anyone who knows anything about me knows that I LOVE Christmas! I love everything about it, from the brightly colored lights and decorations to the traditional music and shopping for the kids.

Wait, I lied—there is actually one thing that I don’t like about Christmas—wrapping presents. Ugh! I think it’s because I feel such pressure to wrap them perfectly. Mine must be the most beautifully-wrapped presents.

I’m not sure how or when it happened. When did I decide that I have to be the best present wrapper? The same thing happened to me in school. Somewhere along the line, I decided that I HAD to get straight A’s. Everyone expected it. It was the “thing” I was known for. The other kids in the family were “funny” or “talented” or “cute” or “a good cook”, but when I heard my mom talk to other people about me, it was always, “Deb gets straight A’s in school.” And so, I felt the pressure. I couldn’t let people down. I still carry that around with me when I take a college course. Pathetic, I know.

And so, people have complimented my present wrapping prowess, which puts pressure on me to wrap each one perfectly. Not just at Christmas, mind you. I do this for birthdays, too. It’s so stressful!

As you can see, Krista obviously does not suffer from this affliction. Here are three presents she bought for Leah and wrapped herself.

But other than wrapping presents, I LOVE Christmas! Much of our garage is taken up with crates and boxes full of Christmas decorations. Each year, we bring them in the house and go through them like kids, thrilled to rediscover forgotten treasures. We have spent almost 30 years collecting special ornaments, and it's so much fun to open them and put them on our tree. Ryan calls me the Christmas tree Nazi, because I have to have the tree decorated "just right" too. I say, "Pooh!" I like a nicely-decorated tree.

And, as much as Gene complains about putting up lights outside, I know he enjoys seeing our house lit up at night with our red and white lights—each light carefully positioned so that they are all facing the same direction of course. Beautiful!

And, most importantly, I love the fact that the girls love to put out the manger scene each year. They used to make me sing “Little Drummer Boy” when we put out the figurines. But we don’t do that anymore.

I remember when Carla was sick, she was working on a book about her life for Kelby. One of the writing prompts was, “Some of my favorite Christmas traditions are. . . “ Sadly, she couldn’t think of any traditions that she did with her kids, and was bummed. She asked me if I had any. Here are some of the ones I mentioned:

• We always set up our Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving. (Usually, we only get as far as getting all the lights and the garland on, but we always start.)


• The kids hang their own ornaments on the tree. Gene’s mom used to get the kids an ornament each year, and we always tried to add one, too. That way, when they get married, they already have a headstart on ornaments. Leah and Krista have their own ornament boxes filled with special ornaments.
  
• Each kid has their own special wrapping paper that we use to wrap all of that kid's presents. That way we don’t have to put tags on them. We spend an entire evening locked in our bedroom wrapping presents. We put them out in the hall when we have a few ready. The kids wait to hear the door open and they come running down and excitedly pick up the presents, taking note of how many are wrapped in their special paper, and trying to guess what’s in them before placing them under the tree and waiting impatiently for more presents to appear in the hallway.


• We always make fudge, just like Dad did. Sometimes we make enough to give to friends, but not always.


• The kids get a new pair of winter pajamas, and this is the present they get to open on Christmas eve.


• We save our pennies throughout the year, and at Christmas time, we cash them in and spend the money on a toy for Toys for Tots.


• We read, “Twas the Night Before Christmas” on Christmas eve. We have a collection of books with the poem in it and each family member picks their book and we take turns reading a stanza and then we all read the last line together.


• We always have Pillsbury cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning.

Carla couldn’t believe how many traditions we had, and was bummed to realize that she hadn’t really established any special traditions with her kids. It really made me realize how important it was. I hope this inspires you to start or continue Christmas traditions. The memories are priceless. I'd love to hear other ideas for traditions, too!

Enjoy the holiday!