Bits About Christmas. Moments Remembered.

[monkrules]

Small things sometimes leave the most lasting impressions. Share some of yours.

I have a niece I love without end. When she was a toddler we babysat her while her mother worked. During those early years of her life our family grew to love her dearly.

When she was about a year old and all the kids had gathered around the Christmas tree to open presents, she sat encircled by a small mountain of presents. My niece lifted each wrapped gift and gently kissed it. When she was finished, she finally began opening her presents. This was decades ago and it's still a vivid memory.

On a more humorous note, I was once a member of a forum where a member posted that he had received two gifts for Christmas: a sweater and a piece of ass.

Both were too big.

 

[Moonglow]

More ass than he could eat in a droopy sweater...

 

[gulfman]

My family has a tradition of getting up on Christmas morning early and putting on our military fatigues and battle helmets and watching a good war movie before we open up gifts.Then watching the kids open up their first gifts of ammunition is priceless.

 

[Bonzi]

All traditions went by the wayside after my kids grew up.....

 

[Disir]

My son and I moved closer to my family a little over two years ago. Now, we are about 2 1/2 hours away from anybody but it isn't some 18 hours away. I had not been here for over twenty years. He is really big into what traditions he and I share right now. His dad's relatives are Polish and Lithuanian so there is an entire shlew of traditional cookies and breads and stuff that have been done for 14 years of his life. Underneath this is a bunch of petty competition because they are deeply unhappy I moved. They have taken this stance that I think my family is better than their family when it is simply that my parents are getting older and it was time for me to make that move.

So over the summer I got one of those long folding tables and we were going to make cookies and all that jazz. However, between my kid's schedule and mine it didn't happen. In fact, he is so exhausted he had little time to miss it. By Thanksgiving he has verbalized our lack of tradition. We stayed home and I brined a Turkey because my oven may not be working properly and we did all the stuff.

We drove to my mom's home this weekend and she has been super excited due to the over 20 years thing. It's cold but it isn't snow. She had a 9 foot tree. The house is decorated. It is beautiful. There is a blend of families and the incorporation of two very distinct traditions that cover two days. This year my mom taught my kid the traditional Italian recipes that her grandmother had taught her. He felt included and part of a longer tradition and thought it felt like Christmas as soon as we walked in the house.

Now I have said nothing to anyone about the above but it was a beautiful thang and very natural. It might seem trivial and boring to everyone else.