Holiday Traditions

I decided to work for a school district instead of somewhere else because of the idea that I could have not one, but TWO, weeks off every winter.   Two whole weeks of no work!  No waking up at an ungodly hour!  No obnoxious phone calls!  And most importantly, no long and boring meetings! 

When I was single, I spent most of this time sleeping in and being incredibly unproductive.  Now that I am married and a parent, I don't sleep as much, but our inviolate rule of what has come to be called Winter Break(as opposed to the former "guaranteed to start a big, useless, argument" Christmas Vacation) is that we do what we feel like doing, as much as possible.  If this means hanging out in our jammies and playing video games all day long, eating junk food and ignoring our vegetables, so be it.

Oh, we don't ignore the important things, like attending services on Christmas Eve, or spending time with our families.  Although my family is not what you call "touchy-feely", we do try to spend time together.  We usually exchange gifts with my parents, my mother-in-law and my brother's family on Christmas Eve, right after church.  We also gather together at some point on Christmas day, to feast and laugh and watch some form of sports.

The three of us, however, have created our own traditions.  Kids make it impossible not to have traditions, since they demand that everything be done just like it was last year, and the year before that, and the year before that.  We want to avoid the meltdowns, so Larry and I tend to give in to our little one at this time of the year, in the name of tradition.  Besides, we like them as well.

One of our traditions over the holiday break is to watch the Lord of the Rings trilogy each year.  The extended cuts, not the silly ones that were shown in the theater are viewed, because we are hardcore about our movie watching.  This year we also included The Hobbit movies, and we wandered down to our local theater to see the last installment.  Our movie viewing is immediately followed by the "Obscure questions about Tolkien's works that only my husband can answer" portion of the evening.  My son peppers his father with questions about the characters, and my husband loves it.  I pepper Larry with questions regarding Tolkien's issues with women, and my husband doesn't love it as much, but he is at least patient. 

Another tradition?  After my son has gone to bed on Christmas Eve, Larry and I watch Die Hard together while we finish setting things up for the morning.  We share some wine as John McClane smacks some terrorists around and trades one liners with Hans Gruber.  It is a defense mechanism; by the time Christmas Eve rolls around, we are extremely tired of the whole commercialized aspect of Christmas.  We need a break, and Die Hard provides such, with explosions and bullets and bad guys getting their comeuppance. 

A third tradition is breakfast on Christmas morning.   The heavenly scent of cinnamon rolls wafts through the house at the crack of dawn, soon after we wake up.  The frenzy of opening gifts builds up an appetite, but we certainly do not want to ruin Christmas dinner by filling our bellies too early.  Cinnamon rolls seem to fit the bill, and I usually make plenty, so that there's a couple of rolls left over for snacking in between breakfast and lunch. 

What sort of holiday traditions do you and your family have?  And while I'm at it, I would like to wish you and your families a wonderful holiday filled with love and laughter and lots of goodness, whatever your traditions may be. 

Must Haves for Christmas

We are nontraditional Christmas types in my house.   We don't have stockings hanging by the chimney with care, for example, because we don't have a chimney.  It's too hot in these parts for a roaring fire more than once a year, and in all the mystery novels I've read, chimneys attract dead bodies. Who needs that mess?

That said, there are certain things that my family MUST have on hand to celebrate Christmas. These items are vital for infusing our house with the spirit of Christmas.  If we don't have these items, we might muddle through as a family. We're troopers.  However, we will be very cross, whiny, and complain a lot, and generally not be fit for company. 

REINDEER.  Last year my son insisted that we HAD to have a reindeer in the front yard.  Had to.  In the front yard.  We explained to our child that reindeer lived at the North Pole with Santa, and that it was very cold at the North Pole. We explained  about climate and discussed the whole 'fiery sun shining down 360 days out of the year' angle.  None of those silly facts made a difference; the boy demanded a reindeer.  In the front yard.  So we went to a store and bought him one of those wire reindeer that have lights all over them and set it up. In the front yard. And plugged it in. And all was right with the world.  We don't put up any outdoor decorations, just the reindeer.  In the front yard.  It's sort of become a badge of honor.

COOKIES.  Santa MUST have his cookies and milk.  Not just any cookies, either.  These delectable treats for Saint Nick must be "homemade" chocolate chip cookies, fresh from the oven.  There have been years when I just did not feel like making cookies, but I am soundly chastised for my lack of Christmas spirit.  If Santa doesn't have the "good" cookies, we will get rotten presents, is my son's logic.  Who am I to argue with that?  So he and I make chocolate chip cookies on Christmas Eve and leave out a couple for Santa.  Then we stuff our faces with the rest, because fresh chocolate chip cookies?  That is heaven to our taste buds!

A CHRISTMAS STORY.  This movie came out when I was in high school, and it is the only Christmas movie allowed in my house.  It MUST be viewed at least once in its entirety during the 24hrs of Christmas.  We MUST cackle over the Bumpus' dogs.  We MUST giggle over the major prize, and the Chinese turkey.  (I have a friend who goes with her family to a Chinese restaurant on Christmas day just because of that movie, and we'd do that too, if our collective families wouldn't have a fit.)  It's not Christmas if A Christmas Story isn't on the blu-ray player.

OBNOXIOUS NOISY DECORATION.  Every year, my son wants us to get out this Christmas tree that has a train in it.  The train  travels round and round the tree while Christmas music plays.  Yes it is cute.  The first 40 times or so.  After that, it becomes just an obnoxious noise that must be silenced.  I confess that I've removed the batteries on occasion, just to get some peace.  But the boy loves it, and sits in front of it for hours, watching the train go around and around.  It's not the same if we don't get that tree out, so I put up with it for the month of December.

DIE HARD.  Yep, this one is for the grownups!  I love this movie, from back when Bruce Willis had hair.  My husband and I watch this movie every year after Zane is in bed.  We will pour ourselves a glass or two of wine, and sit back and watch the yippee-ki-yay to our hearts content.  Unless my husband has some complicated toy to put together before the boy wakes up.  Then he works on that while I kick my feet up and enjoy Bruce pummeling Alexander Gudonov and other assorted baddies.

How about you?  What are YOUR Christmas must haves?





4.) Christmas Must Haves (could even be a list created by a child)