Family Christmas

Gifts!

Family is important. My family Christmastime includes many traditions, as well as newer routines. Now that my youngest sister is married and living far away, we have to share her, every other year, with her other family in Australia. The years we get to have her and her husband are even more sacred now. This year it is our turn to have the Wilkinsons.

I have looked forward to this Christmas since last year’s celebration. Though last year was special, it is distinctly precious having the entire family together for the holidays. I believe we all feel this way, our feelings being shaped by the fact that our dad has been missing from Christmas since his death in 1992, meaning that we only had nine years of Christmases with all four of us kids (Tandy was born in September 1983) and mom and dad together. Not enough.

Since 1992, we have celebrated Christmas very similarly to how we did before, but some traditions have changed, and some new things added. Over the years, new family members have been added due to marriage and children coming. These events bring their own changes to traditions.

Our traditions include gifts, of course. We also have our favorite foods and desserts. For me, Christmas is almost incomplete unless I have had some pecan pie. It is customary for us to wake up (early) Christmas morning and open our gifts, still in our pajamas. As children, we were allowed to open one small gift on Christmas Eve, to tide us over until morning. These days, we may watch a movie together – those of us who aren’t still frantically wrapping gifts – and eat finger foods, including shrimp, Lit’l Smokies®, crackers and cheese, or this year, even brats. Christmas day, we have a traditional type dinner with turkey or ham (or both sometimes), potatoes and gravy, noodles, corn, green beans or green bean casserole, dinner rolls, fruit salad, and depending on who else may come for dinner, loads of menu items more. The desserts mom makes every year are pecan pie, pumpkin pie, and cinnamon rolls, but if other guests come for dinner, we may have an entire side table of desserts.

A new “after Christmas” tradition we enjoy is sledding. If there is snow, we have started to have a sledding day, which is captured on video so that we may enjoy it on DVD next year when we are together as a family. We love to laugh at ourselves, and it isn’t hard with all of our antics on the sled slope.

Another new family activity is playing the Wii. I don’t know if other families get as many belly laughs out of competing against, and watching each other play, but we are sold on the entertainment value of “group Wii”. This year we have added Wii Sports Resort to the mix. Very entertaining.

This year, we are starting what could become another tradition. We are going to have a New Year’s Eve party, including lots of games, music, finger foods, and good friends and family. This party will be the culmination of my sister’s visit to Missouri, and it will be 2011 before we get to have her for Christmas again.

I have taken some photos and video of the family, in expectation of putting them together for another installment to our Christmas video. Putting together a video of the preceding year’s events has become my new tradition and gift to the family. I collect photos and video from any event we do as a family, and highlight our laughs and experiences to show at Christmastime. It is these experiences that strengthen our bond as a family.

What traditions does your family have. I would love to read about them in the comments section below.