How do YOU celebrate?

Previously posted on my other blog at 7:57 pm on December 23rd 2005.

My friend Melissia posted about some of their Christmas present traditions today, and it inspired me to do the same.

I grew up believing in Santa. Truth be told, I still do. All of the presents under the tree on Christmas morning were wrapped. Some had "From Santa" on the tag, and some had "From Mom and Dad". I can't remember who had the majority. The only things not wrapped were the odd shaped gifts in our stockings, which were so full that they were sitting on the hearth instead of hanging from the mantle. And they were handmade by my mother. The stockings... not the stuff inside.

On Christmas morning, Janis and I always woke up early and snuck out to the livingroom. The tree would be lit up and it always looked so magical to have all the presents arranged around the tree and the stockings propped up against the fireplace bricks nearby with the warm glow of the Christmas lights on them.

We would go shake Mom to let her know that we were up and we were allowed to start going through our stockings while she and Dad got up and got their coffee ready.

In the stockings, among other things, there would always be one new ornament for each of us, loads of candy (including the chocolate coins in gold foil) and usually a piece of jewelry and other little nick-nacks.

After the coffee was ready, the gift giving would begin! We always opened the gifts one by one rather than all at once. It made it all last longer. There was always one large present left under the tree, with no name on it. We would all look at Dad and he would tell us who it was for. It was someone different every year.

Even as we got older, and had been told the secrets behind Santa and his reindeer, we still got presents with his name on the tag. I loved that.

In David's famly, his presents all came from Santa, and they weren't wrapped. He would wake up and see them all under the tree. Hmmm... maybe that's where his lack of patience comes from? That instant gratification? Ok, I'll stop psychoanalyzing... if your family does it that way, and it works for you, more power to you. I just don't get it. I like the suspense... I like dragging it out until the last possible second... I like the "not knowing".

So, when we had kids, we had to compromise. Each year, one gift, which is from Santa, is left unwrapped and put on display in front of tree. When you think about it, this kind of follows along with the way that movies tend to portray Santa's gifts. He gets an unwrapped toy out of his pack with a pretty bow wrapped around it and leaves it under the tree. In our house, it's usually that one gift that they really just had to have that year.

The rest of the gifts are wrapped and from us, rather than Santa. We do this even with Rhya, and she is good enough to play along for the other two. I don't plan on stopping when they are older, either... I think it's good to hold on to traditions like that.

So tomorrow is Christmas Eve. We are going to spend the day with my dad and stepmom in Fayetteville. I don't know if Noah is going to make it... he has been fighting Croup all week, and he is still running a pretty good fever. He's completely stuffed up and cannot seem to shake this cold he has. So it looks as though he and David are going to have to stay home tomorrow. :( I was really looking foward to the fact that David would be going to Dad's this year... there always seems to be something that keeps him from going. And I know that Noah being sick is not an excuse... it's a fact. And we can't get around it. But still... there's always something! My brother-in-law joked when he and Janis came to visit earlier this year that he was finally going to meet this husband of mine, whom he had though up until then was a figment of my imagination. I'm beginning to wonder if Gail's family doesn't think the same thing! Oh well... it can't be helped. There's no way I'm going to risk Noah's health by making him go out there, and I'm not going to bring that crud into Gail's house, either.

I gotta go... I have some last minute stocking stuffer shopping to do. Nothing like waiting until the last minute, huh? Atlanta Christmas traffic... here I come!!!