As we mark the last Christmas with just two of us, Rakicy and I have spent more time this season talking about holiday traditions and what traditions we want to keep or start. Rakicy's family doesn't have nearly as many traditions as my family, so for the most part I feel like many of the traditions we have are transplants from my side of the family.*
Since we got married we've bought a new ornament for our Christmas tree each year. I label the year and location on the back of each. Some are obviously tied to something specific. Last year's was a snow covered house to mark our new house in Illinois. The first ornament was tiny pewter angel that was on clearance to mark our first Christmas as recent grads with no money.**
Other traditions a little more liberal. I put up Christmas decorations early (generally the weekend after Thanksgiving) and leave them up through Epiphany. It always makes me sad when I see Christmas trees on the curb Christmas day or the day after. We have an advent calendar that has little boxes that you open each day until Christmas. We usually eat Christmas dinner late afternoon on Christmas day. All of these things are subject to change depending on where we are in a given year and what we have going on.
Other traditions are little more nonnegotiable. The one tradition that Rakicy has whole-heartedly adopted is stockings. In my family stockings are big deal, not just a decoration. Stockings were always (and still are when we are home) filled with candy, small toiletries, and other small items. I never realized that this was an exception, but Rakicy had never experienced the stocking full of goodies until he met me. This year we even put up (and filled) stockings for my in-laws, who are coming for Christmas, as a way of introducing them to a tradition that we want to keep. It's a little harder to fill stockings for adults, but hopefully it will introduce the idea that we want to keep, regardless of where we spend Christmas once the baby is here.
I'm curious what traditions other people have. What are the things that you do every holiday. Are they things that were continued from a specific source or things you or your family developed on your own?
Notes:
*This may not be entirely true. Rakicy may just not be able to recall any specific traditions. In either case, we have more from my side of the family than his.
**This statement is misleading in many ways. I had recently finished my bachelors, but was in grad school making very little money. This is only slightly different than our current situation. Grad students in Illinois still make very little money, but cannot even begin to compete with grad students in Missouri in terms of poverty levels.
2 comments:
Okay, are you telling me that Rakicy is the screen name your husband goes by? I seriously thought that was BZ everytime I saw it (on my blog, on other people's blogs, etc.) Oops...
Christmas is HUGE at our house. We get lots of stuff, more than we really should. Growing up, my parents did not buy us toys or gifts other times of the year. We rarely even got clothes or shoes unless we absoltely needed them. But Christmas and Birthdays were the times to really go crazy.
Traditions: We celebrate St. Nick's day. We get a present on the morning of December 6th.
We have stockings. We used to get get smaller presents and odds and ends (if you got a camera for Christmas, for example, the stocking might have batteries or film). My SIL's family does candy in the stockings, so we have adopted that a bit and everyone usually gets some kind of treat too.
Our bedrooms are upstairs and the living room in downstairs. On Christmas morning we were not allowed to go downstairs until the tree lights were on and we heard the jingle of bells. That is because our largest gift (which has always been, and still is from Santa Claus) was never wrapped.
We have Italian for Chistmas dinner. Always.
We have lots of little things, but those are the big ones. We also try to always spend the same amount of money on each person (in the immediate family*) and then my parents try to make sure that we all have the same number of gifts. This is not an easy task.
I'm so glad to hear that other people love stockings and fully utilize them. We have and will always receive stockings. In fact, my mother even embroidered ours (usually from a kit, but a pretty elaborate, time-consuming kit). Even when my brother came along seven years after me, she bought a new kit and embroidered his stocking. Furthermore, my mom takes significant others into consideration when Christmas rolls around. That person may not have a hand-made stocking, but they still have a stocking. She has also continued the tradition with my sister and her children even though they live 16 hours away. She packs little bags, labels them "stocking stuffers," and my sister takes care of it.
To me, stockings are the most exciting part of receiving presents. This may be because we have always opened our presents on Xmas Eve* rather than Xmas Day, so the stocking was one more thing to look forward to - almost like Xmas wasn't quite over yet.
As for what goes inside the stocking, well that just varies. I've received candy, jewelry, movies, cds, batteries - for gifts we received the night before (just like M's family), - toiletries, and even underwear (after I complained about how wrong it is to receive underwear from Santa, he started bringing pajamas)! Also, the stockings are always from Santa - I guess that's how we keep the fun of childhood traditions.
*I've never been sure as to why we open gifts on the Eve rather than the day. I've asked my mom on several occasions, but I usually get different answers (she may not even know). In fact, I even believed - at one time - that my grandfather grew up Jewish, so they opened presents early. I know, this makes no sense, but I was very little when I thought this. I believe the truth is that my grandfather couldn't wait until Xmas Day, so he started a tradition of his own. Opening on the Eve involves my mother's side of the family, so we get together with my uncles and cousins, and we all open our gifts then. The funny thing is, most spouses who join the family don't object to this tradition!
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