This year will by my husband and I's 14th Christmas together. It is difficult, sometimes, to belive that is even possible. It seems like only yesterday we were celebrating our first Christmas together. Six days before our second Christmas together we would have our fist child. Our second child was born 5 days before Christmas. We have one more that was born three days after Christmas. Only one of our children has a birthday in a month other then December.
It makes the Holiday's a pretty exciting, busy and at times overwhelming time of year for us. Through out the years we have created traditions embracing both the Christmas and the birthday part of our Holiday season. Creating those traditions has not always been an easy experience.
Like most newlyweds we rode the rough waters of what traditions to keep from our childhood. What traditions we couldn't live without. What traditions were essential to our happiness and to making sure that Christmas was just right. What traditions to create on our own.
When all has been said and done there remains only one tradition that can not be agreed upon. That is the tradition of stockings. In my husbands childhood household each Christmas they would take one of their socks and leave them out for Santa. At the toe of each sock was an orange and a few other items.
In my childhood home my mom had custom Christmas stockings made for each of us. They had our name embroderied in them. Each Christmas Eve we would take our stocking and leave it where we wanted Santa to leave our presents. Every Christmas morning we would find them stuffed full next to the presents left by Santa.
Every Christmas Eve Brent will tell the kids to run and get a sock while I look at him flabbergasted that we are having the same argument that we had last Christmas Eve.
"We do not use our socks!" I exclaim.
"We don't, I thought we did, what else would we use?" He will ask.
For the millionth time I will yell, "We use the kid's Christmas stockings."
Then he looks at me confused as if we have never once had this conversation. I look at him like he has to be kidding me because we have had this conversation at least a million and three times.
Maybe not that many but it seems like that many. By the time the kids go to bed their Christmas stockings are laid under the tree. By morning they are stuffed full of goodies with an orange in the toe.
This weekend after all the yummy food was ate we decorated the Christmas tree and pulled out the Christmas decorations. As I was hanging up the stockings it made me chuckle to realize that in 24 days I will be having the same argument with Brent that we have had for the past 11 years. I guess you can say it has become a tradition, a strange one, but a tradition none the less.
My question for you this week is, what childhood tradition have you not been able to let go of? Even though your spouse just doesn't get it and refuses to get it.
Just so you don't think Brent is the only one being stubborn, he has the tradition of eating shrimp cocktail every Christmas eve which I still don't get and I refuse to get.
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In my parents' home, we had caught on to the Santa gig. We knew we had no fireplace... we knew that old elf wouldn't be able to find a stocking lieing under the tree... we knew we were in trouble come Christmas morning unless we came up with a plan. It was decided, we would leave the door unlocked for Santa and he could leave our presents under and around the tree. The gifts were left in nice little piles... bikes were to be found near the piano... crayons, RC cars, and other toys would be stacked according to each child's deepest desires. Upon leaving us presents... Santa would kindly lock our front door.
I have yet to grasp the knick-knacky toys that Santa leaves in stockings. Luckily, Santa has been kind to me all these years and even though I have a stocking (my children insisted on it...bah humbug!), Father Christmas still leaves a small pile of delights for me beside the tree.
Anyway, my favorite line of this is the dumbfounded husband, "We don't, I thought we did, what else would we use?" Let's see if he tries that for the 14th time this year, since it worked so well the first 13 times. Hahahahahaha. Ahhh. Hahaha.
Lou