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| Us at about 7 and 5 Christmas Eve, the jammies were our gifts :) |
I've been thinking a lot about the way we do Christmas. Christmas in my house growing up was a HUGE deal. Mom would always say "it's not going to be that big this year" and every year she pulled it off. We didn't get much through the year, so Christmas was a hoopla. We opened on present on Christmas Eve and got up early on Christmas. We weren't allowed to see the tree until dad covered our eyes and brought us into the room. I'm dead serious we were 19 and 17 sitting in the hallway waiting for them to "get up"...We would yell "Mom Dad wake up it's Christmas". Now when we were little, we thought they were really asleep. Then we learned they were just mocking us. Dad would have to make his coffee before he would come get us. Then the big reveal!!! Then we would have to wait while they poked through the gifts, "hmm this one says Andrea" "wonder what this is for Justin" Then we would have to wait until dad finished the coffee. FINALLY gift time! We did one gift at a time, no free for all in my house, watching as each person opened their gifts. And it was wonderful. We would even stop halfway through for bathroom breaks and the second cup of coffee for dad. Also Rowlph would join us on Christmas Morning. He's my mom's stuffed puppet that she go on Christmas many moons ago. Oh and stockings, let's not forget stockings!
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| Christmas Morning 1991 |
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| Excuse my sour expression, I'm sure my brother woke me up too early. Here we are 19 and 17, my last Christmas at home. See Rowlph is on my lap. |
I held those traditions up in my house. The kids have to wait because as my mom told us "if you see the gifts before we show you, they'll disappear". They get one gift on Christmas Eve, usually a gift that someone sent to them. The kids line up in the hallway and get their reveal at the top of the stairs. Rowlph is waiting near the gifts. And one by one we open gifts. After gifts are done, then they get their stockings.
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| Christmas Eve 2009 Awesome hats. |
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| Christmas Morning 2009, the big reveal! |
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| Shane with Rowlph 2009 |
Here's the big difference in my childhood and that of my own children. My kids get gifts all year long. From Nanu and Granddaddy, from Aunt Brandy and Aunt Jermaine (don't ask, or do it's a funny story), Aunt Stephie and the random things that come in the mail. Christmas is just a mass of toys that get played with for 5 minutes and then get into trash bags a few months later.
So here's my plan for this Christmas. My friend Heather does this great gift giving idea. Something to read, something to wear, something to play with, and something to share.So basically four gifts. I'm almost 100% sure that this is what we're going to do this year. Instead of buying mass amounts of stuff, we're going to think about each kid and get specials things for them as individuals. They are only going to get older and the things they want will get bigger and more expensive. If we change the way we do things now, it might be helpful later. I also want to impart more tradition into the season. More volunteering, more handmade gifts for friends and family, more love to spread.
As for gifts, here's what I've got so far. For the something to wear, each kid will get new jammies and a new shirt. For something to share: Jackson wants a fish tank, Sam a board game, and I don't know about Shane yet. I'm looking into learning games for the Wii. For something to read: Sam, easy readers about trucks. Shane: a chapter book about racing or football. Jackson: Easy chapter books about animals. Something to play with: For Shane: I've found a great art kit in a carrying case, also a few sketch books. Jackson: He loves those scratch magic things. I found a set on amazon with extra paper. Sam: I think playdoh, he's a playdoh maniac! It's just that more thought will go into each gift. Also they go to dollar tree and pick out a gift for their brothers. We also do Dollar Tree for gifts for Nanu and Grandaddy, they are always a hit! :)
We also will be doing the shoeboxes for the Operation Christmas Child. I hope to start collecting things for the boxes soon. I'd like each kid to be able to do their own box.
In case you're wondering about any foster children. Social Services is rather awesome for that. They set up a Angel Tree for the kids and then invite them all to party with their families and Santa is there, games, food and a gift. The other gifts are in black trash bags and given to the parents to wrap and give at Christmas time!
6 comments:
I like that idea. I might look into that kind of thing. It is getting harder the older they get to buy for them and I feel like they too get so much stuff all through the year and Christmas is always big from grandparents and my sister and her husband! We don't have many traditions....we do Operation Shoebox every year and the gift they open on Christmas is always new pj's to wear that night! I would love to have some more traditions too!
I think that I was 23 and Mikah was 19 before we stopped sitting at the top of the stairs waiting to be called down. Last year we finally called it quits and had coffee and made cinnamon fluff with them. I know the boys will have nothing but fond memories as well no matter what you decide to do :)
LOL....we still did it until we started staying home for Christmas in 2007 when we bought this house. We hid all eyes.....Shane's first Christmas we were at the in-laws and I HATED it!!!! They do the free for all, and I had not slept and Shane was miserable. I cried, I just wanted to go to my parents...we never did that again!
I like this. As you probably know, Brandy and I have been trying to balance our (heh, DIFFERENT) ideas about Christmas for the past few years. I think the free-for-all is a bit overrated, but that Christmas itself is a really beautiful thing when done thoughtfully, and with a focus on something besides busting through cardboard.
What a fantastic idea!
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