Traditions Old and New

As a person who craves routine, one of my favorite parts of the holidays is the traditions associated with it. The rituals one breaks out only once a year, but you look forward to all year long in eager anticipation. And then when you start a family and have children of your own, the question becomes what traditions do you keep and what do you create to call your very own?

I grew up creating paper chains with one ring for each day prior to Christmas and pulling a ring off for every day complete. Christmas eve always found us carefully putting out cookies and milk for Santa, carrots for hungry reindeer, then opening one present from Mom and Dad before bed. We never traveled on Christmas day, always waking up in our own home for Santa Claus couldn't possibly find us anywhere else. Jingle bells would be scattered by the fireplace, left behind by reindeer taking off in flight. Bites out of those cookies and carrots.  The day after Christmas, we always packed up and headed south to the Boston area for a big family fete and celebrate all over again.

My husband also smiles remembering his own traditions. His Christmas eves were filled with  fun casual family pizza dinners. And then the ritualistic placing of the cookies and milk for Santa. He and his sisters also never traveled on Christmas day for that ever fear that Santa wouldn't possibly know where to deliver those gifts. Waking at the first light to half-eaten cookies and half-drunk glasses of milk, sure evidence that St. Nick had paid visit to his house and not just mine. And for him, there was always a nap stolen post opening of the presents from the exhaustion of getting up so early in excitement.

So now we fuse our traditions. It hasn't been challenging, since we tend to agree so much on parenting style to begin with. We'll spend Christmas eve eating pizza, and now that the oldest is two, watching the Polar Express and then reading the Night Before Christmas. We've chased that Elf all around those Shelves for a couple weeks now and I'm confident he's told Santa what the whole house wants at this point. We'll set out our cookies and milk and enjoy nibbles while we set up a magical scene for babies and toddlers to feast their eyes on come morning. We'll mix glitter and oatmeal for the two year old to scatter in the lawn and driveway so the reindeer have food and a trail to follow to the chimney. (Why leave such things to chance?)   Naturally, there will be no travel and we'll host both sides of the family, enjoying these traditions and more with them now and for years to come.

With these new traditions comes the main cast of characters, our three children. How much fun the years forward are going to be. We hope this phase of Christmas lasts forever, for it will be a sad day when it ends.

Merry Christmas All! See you on the 26th.