I thought I would share some random Christmas traditions in our home that makes our family unique...yes...and probably a little crazy!
This week we were reading from Luke and as the kids were asking questions about different things I realized just how non-traditional some of these questions are...yet they are typical in our home. When I was reading about the parable of the Lost Son the kids wanted to understand the significance of the Jews not eating pork. That sidetracked into a discussion of the meat that we eat and seeing if the kids knew what animal it came from. Then I realized that just because the "typical" answer for "what animal does hamburger come from" is "a cow," in our family the right answer is "a deer." When I asked where bacon comes from and Grace responded, "a turkey!" I had to laugh aloud at the silliness of it all.
When reading the story of Jesus' conception and the idea of a virgin I had to, as many parents of young children do, tread lightly on the definition of a virgin. However, in our home where each of kids who were reading the Bible with me at the moment at been born out of wedlock I couldn't give the traditional answers of husbands and wives. That had the kids bunny trail into a discussion of how many biological siblings that the kids have that are not living with their mother's after being born out of wedlock and the number of states in which they have siblings living (that are known) as I desperately tried to figure out a way to get back on track while answering their questions. I am frequently reminded of the very non-traditional answers that is our family's reality...and more and more the reality of the world. I know that we are not alone in this culture to need to do that, but it sure does make for some interesting questions from the kids!
I decided to end our Bible time that day with some Christmas Carols to help transition us out of some sad emotions (Superman and Faith are really missing Rose and are very sad she will not be with them for Christmas), so I played the piano while they stood around and sang. My practical side was glad for the indirect lesson in learning how to read music, waiting on timing, etc. My mom's side was thrilled for this fun experience of my family gathered around the piano singing together:)
We have a tradition of reading devotions in December books by Arnold Ytreeide called Bartholomew's Passage, Tabitha's Travels, and Jotham's Journey. We read one a year. He also has one for Easter. The books are historical fiction and a bit violent but are from a youth's point of view of what the realities of life was probably like at the time of Jesus' birth under the rule of the Romans. They are well written and each of the characters are mentioned in the other books as their lives converge. We really like them.
Putting up the tree is a big deal to the kids. Buddy insists (INSISTS) that it be done the day after Thanksgiving. He even refused to go Black Friday shopping this year for fear that I would put up the tree without his input despite my assurances that I would not. He puts up the tree, lights, tinsel, and directs the rest. If you know Buddy's personality you will see the oddity of this with his typical recluse behavior. My mother's heart loves it though and I will miss him putting up the tree after he is gone.
Our church has 7 a.m. church service on Christmas Day, another tradition that we enjoy. This morning was unique in that JJ was asleep when we left, slept on me through the entire service and coming back home, and slept another 2 hours after we got home! I sure wish he would sleep that hard at night as he usually wakes and crawls in bed with us by 2 a.m. and if I try to put him back to bed after he falls sleep he is back within 30 minutes lol!
We usually open gifts on Christmas Day, but this year broke tradition and opened them all last night (gasp!) Beautiful recited Luke 2 for us (I will be sad if she isn't ever around for Christmas. We will have to have another child memorize Luke 2 as a backup for her!) Then we opened gifts and chaos ensued. I have very fond memories of Christmas at my grandparents home and you couldn't walk across the floor due to the amount of wrapping paper. I still love that silly part of Christmas reminding me of the family being together but it drives my husband crazy to not pick up all of the paper after each present and throw it away lol!
One tradition that we do not observe is Santa Claus and we do this for a variety of reasons (side note: we actually got kicked out of a car pool once when Beautiful was in preschool and said to another girl in the van the truth about Santa. The girl's mom was LIVID and informed us that we RUINED their Christmas). Grace was so incredibly excited to talk to her family on the phone today. I usually stay close but try not to hover when they talk. She was talking a mile a minute and planning for an upcoming sleepover with them. At one point someone must have asked her if Santa brought her any presents. All I heard was her response of, "we don't do Santa. We just buy our own presents. We put something on the roof so that he can't get in." She absolutely cracks me up!
We may not be the most traditional, but we do enjoy our traditions and the craziness that we call our family!
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