Traditions

Sunny's article from yesterday asked about Christmas traditions. At the end of the article, she asked "What are some of your traditions?" Well, it's easier to talk about my family's traditions in my own post, rather than comment on her page, which brings me to today's topic. (BTW, thanks for the idea, Sunny!) There aren't many must-do rituals around here -- even at Christmas -- but the traditions we do have, are steeped in our own personal history.

Our first Christmas tradition actually starts a month or two early, when the first person in the family sees the initial Christmas display in the stores, or when we hear a Christmas commercial on the radio, and we start grumbling that Christmas is coming earlier each year. (By the way, I noticed my first Christmas display a day or two before Halloween this year.) This is nothing against Christmas, but I really love Thanksgiving, which , thanks to our commercialism, is beginning to go the way of Arbor Day or Groundhog Day. I also believe that such a long lead-up to Christmas kind of burns people out on the whole thing.

In relation to this, I also grumble a bit at how many references there are to "The Holidays," instead of calling it what it really is -- Christmas. I tend to keep my eyes and ears open for companies that actually advertise for Christmas, instead of The Holidays, and they usually get my business first.

My first two rituals might make me sound a little humbug about Christmas. That's not the case. I am a little grumpy about the commercialism, but I've been that way since I was in my late teens. I am not, however, grumpy about Christmas in general. Now, on with the real traditions...

-Setting up the Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving. Once upon a time, I was a hard-core real tree purchaser, but pragmatics eventually turned me to fake trees. I like the fact that I can put up the fake tree the day after Thanksgiving without worrying about the tree drying out by Christmas. I still miss the pine scent of a real tree, but that's a small price to pay.

-After the tree is up, I pull out the ornaments, and hand them to Mrs. Evan and the kids, who place them on the tree. The kids' mom was (and still is, based on my understanding) incredibly anal about how the tree is decorated, so the kids don't get to help her decorate that tree. I prefer the eclectic look of our tree, which comes from letting the kids decorate as they see fit.

-The kids' argument discussion over who gets to put the star on top of the tree.

-Each year I purchase three new ornaments. One that represents the wife and me, and one for each of my girls. We occasionally purchase more than three, like the year I got my Harley, the wife and kids got me ornaments to commemorate the new addition to the family. We have also been known to buy unpainted ceramic ornaments and paint them ourselves. The point is that our decorations are personalized. We don't have any simple glass balls or anything like that on the tree. When the kids move out, I fully expect them to take at least some of their ornaments with them. The kids' ornaments are more for them than for me.


Mixed nuts. We (primarily me) go through five to ten pounds of nuts between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day. This year, we've got even more, because I collected fresh Black Walnuts and Hickory nuts. In conjunction with this tradition, the kids put the shells in the same bowl as the nuts, and I grumble about their laziness.

Packing up the family for a drive around town to look at Christmas lights. The trip usually consists of a thermos of hot chocolate, Christmas carols in the CD player, and the kids sporting pajamas in the back seat. We always drive around aimlessly, because the area of town with the best lights tends to move from year to year.

Christmas shows. My favorites, of course, are the slightly irreverent ones... A Year Without a Santa Claus (I love the Miser brothers) and A Christmas Story. (It says fra-gee-lay. Must be Italian.)

One tradition that actually goes back to my childhood is using candy canes as part of the tree's decorations. I had actually forgotten about that part this year. I didn't know exactly why, but the tree didn't look quite right, until Mrs. Evan brought home the candy canes... then it hit me.

Another tradition from my childhood is opening one gift on Christmas eve. I know how it started... my brothers and I nagged my parents about opening stuff early. My parents compromised and said that we could open one gift early. It became a tradition in my family. This tradition was passed on when my kids became old enough to nag me about opening stuff early. Only the kids open a gift early though.

This is a tradition brought to us by Mrs. Evan... each Christmas eve, we re-enact the birth of Christ, using ceramic figurines. It's a very irreverent re-enactment. For example, the Three Wise Men are called the three wise guys, and Joseph is always grumbling about how Mary cheated on him, and how it better have been with God, because if the kid looks like the plumber, he's outta there. It injects a bit of bawdy humor into the story, but it also serves as a reminder of the birth of Christ.

Pretending that I'm too tired to get up early to open gifts. This is my twisted, sadistic way of teasing the kids, because we don't open gifts until everyone is up. In the end, the kids usually jump in bed and wrestle with me until I relent.

Keeping the tree up until New Year's Day.