Christmas Traditions

Although our Christmas seasons share many common features, what makes a Christmas ‘our Christmas’ is the family traditions that we build up over many years. Some of us may decide to keep many of our parents’ traditions, whilst others may decide to create an entirely new Christmas for themselves as they move away and set up their own lives. I am very much in the latter camp, so let me introduce you to our family traditions.

Christmas music and films

An interesting question, because different aspects start at different times. Christmas music starts on December 1 and goes through to December 31. I have a ton of music on various formats and never enough time to play it all, but that’s OK as I look forward to the Christmas tunes and never get bored of them. My own Christmas DVDs and Blu-rays also get their first outings around December 1. There are certain films we watch most years, but only one that has become a true family tradition. The film is Love Actually, and this year will be the 19th year in a row my wife and I will have watched it. The children started watching it when they were still young enough to be appalled by the naughty scenes! Once we get them together, on goes Love Actually and we laugh at the same scenes, cry at one scene in particular and feel thoroughly festive. It wouldn’t be December without it. Other films that get regular plays include at least 2 or 3 versions of my favourite story, (See Day 2 of Blogmas, A Christmas Carol and Me) and invariably The Polar Express, a particular favourite of my wife and daughters.

Christmas Decorations

In this category, we have the carefully treated decorations that have come back from school over the years from all of our children. They never fail to give me a warm glow, although the glow they give the children is sometimes mixed with a helping of embarrassment! Still, I know they appreciate the fact that their creativity still means a lot to us. Our nativity scene is housed in a stable made by my two daughters one year when they were much younger, and it makes me smile every time I look at it. Many of the decorations are now 15 years old or more, but they will continue to be put on the tree for many, many years yet.

Advent and cake toppers

OK, odd category, but they are a reminder of harder times, financially, that led to two of my favourite bargains. Probably 15 years ago, I walked into our local Sense charity shop and saw an Advent calendar of Santa coming down the chimney and I bought it on the spot for £2. It’s a very simple idea. Under Santa are a series of 24 numbered rods that are removed one at a time. At various stages, Santa will move down the chimney, reaching the bottom on Christmas Eve itself. We always made sure that each of the children moved Santa down the chimney twice each Advent, and it was a highlight of the season. 16 years later, it is still our main family Advent calendar, and we still love watching his journey down the chimney! The other bargain was a pack of 3 Christmas Cake toppers which I picked up in our local supermarket for 13p in January one year. As they will be on the Christmas cake for the 16th or 17th year in a row soon, I think I can say I got my money’s worth out of them! When I see those reminders of the poorer times that many still face, I reflect on the fact that I should be grateful for what I now have and never forget those who still struggle more than we once did.

Stockings and Presents

When did we stop putting out stockings for the children? The answer is that we didn’t! Our youngest daughter will be 22 this year, and she still has her stocking to wake up to every Christmas morning! Even our children who no longer live with us find their stockings when they come over for Christmas lunch, due to a mix up that caused Santa Claus to leave their gifts with us! Even now, if they ask about stocking presents, I remind them that it’s not up to me, it’s up to Santa what they get! To make it even more special, the children still have their original stockings – from 1998 for the oldest 3, and 2001 for our youngest. One year, one of the stockings went AWOL and we had to buy a replacement, something that upset our younger son more than he would let on. Luckily, we found it in the wrong box, and he still has his original stocking 24 years later! One thing that always amused me and made my heart grow three sizes was the insistence by our youngest daughter that her beloved teddy bear, Barnaby, have his own Christmas stocking. Well Santa couldn’t disappoint her, could he?

Presents are not put in a pile and opened before Christmas Day is a few minutes old! One thing we were very strict on from the start, was making sure that the children finished breakfast before opening their first present. After that they opened one present each at regular intervals until Boxing Day, or even the 27th depending on how many presents they had. That remains the rule to this day for the children. My wife and I realised after our first few Christmas Days with a growing family that our presents for each other were not being appreciated enough, so we moved our own present opening, first to the very start of Christmas Day once we had seen Santa delivering the stockings, and then to Christmas Day night after the children had gone to bed. It’s still our time together to appreciate the gifts we have given to each other

What does it all add up to?

As I said before, every family has their own traditions, and I am sure that yours are different to ours in many respects. What all these traditions add up to is the feeling that December 25th is more than a simple date on a calendar. It is everything that makes us a family, however near or far from each other we may be. I know that our children will have their own traditions when they settle down in homes of their own, but they will know that it’s a special day, because for our family it always has been.