Christmas Traditions...

When it comes to Christmas, everyone seems to have that one thing that they hold onto that becomes their tradition.  For some it starts way back in the family, continuing on like a badge of honor though the generations.  For others, those traditions have formed from necessity.  For us, it's a little of both.

There was of course, much discussion regarding the whole idea of Santa when Oldest was born, and believe it or not, his father and I chose NOT to teach him about Santa Claus. We chose to teach the idea of Santa... that he was a man who lived long ago, and that now people continue his memory by becoming Santas themselves, spreading his good will and kindness.  And we stuck to that... until my in-laws got all hyper-critical and taught them themselves, filling their heads with the "good and bad", "coal and toys" crap.

My ex's family tradition from WAY back was the shrimp on Christmas Eve.  Second generation Italians, they celebrated on Christmas Eve and there was never a shortage of shrimp, cooked as you waited, sauteed in butter and garlic.  Most Eves we went through 20 pounds of shrimp easily, friends coming and going between their obligated holiday stops, people stopping for the company and staying for the shrimp.

Then of course, we got divorced, and my kids learned the new tradition of having 7 Christmases, spanning over nearly a week.  Which inevitably left them exhausted, inundated with gifts, and lacking in the true holiday spirit.  We never had the money for matching pajamas or a live tree, and the kids never got very excited about decorating the tree anyway. Working all the time left me little energy for baking cookies and most holiday movies left me snoring on the couch.  And that creepy Elf On The Shelf didn't start until 2005 so he never made an appearance at our house (thank Jesus!).

So, yeah.  The traditions that most people have just never really happened for us.

I started thinking about this the other day.  I felt like maybe it was time to bring back the shrimp that his grandparents used to do. I'm not even sure why, since the kids don't eat shrimp, but this Christmas just felt like we were missing something, you know?  In the end I didn't make the shrimp.  Instead we went to Tony's mom's house, like every Christmas Eve we've been together, as it has also been a long standing celebration in their home too. We gather with his brother's family, exchange gifts, and light the candles on my mother in-law's birthday cake.  She blows out the candles, sighs, and rambles something in Portuguese about how she's made it through another year and how this may be her last. To which, we all roll our eyes and tell her she's being ridiculous.   Except this year she didn't ramble.  She just blew out her candles. A break in tradition that left me feeling oddly uneasy.  As we wrapped up the night, we started talking about how when Tony and his brother were young they would open all their presents at midnight. That tradition carried on for years into adulthood, long after they moved to America and had their own families, only stopping about 20 years ago.  I have heard the stories over and over and it never really hit me until tonight.

Midnight gifts meant that I can sleep in indefinitely.

If I clean the house tonight, it will still be a clean house Christmas morning.

And perhaps most important, no bed head in any of the pictures.

This may be the most brilliant idea ever.  So here I am, at 11pm Christmas Eve typing away.  The kids are listening to music, playing games, and building on Mine Craft.  The house is clean, the gifts are wrapped, the stockings tucked neatly under the tree.

And Tony is snoring loud enough to wake the dead in the other room.

Seriously.

That man's been asleep since 9:30.

So as I throw the laundry in the dryer and think of hilarious ways in which I can wake him up for our midnight gift-o-palooza, I wonder if this tradition will be the one we keep. Or if we will reintroduce the shrimp and garlic.  I wonder what we will do when his mom is no longer with us.  Will we still get together, or will we all just celebrate with our immediate families?

One thing's for sure though, we're never going to get matching pajamas.

No one needs to see me in just boxers.

*shudders*