Traditions

Traditions at Christmas. Everyone has them. Whether it revolves around religion, family, or just plain presents. If it has been passed down for generations or if your parents started it. As I was coming up with the idea for this post, I tried to think of what my family always did. The big tradition that most families have is whether or not the kids can open one present on Christmas Eve. We never had that. Our family will forever be a 'presents are for Christmas morning' family. IF we ever have kids, I will carry on that tradition. The only exception is if you are visiting extending family members and won't be around them on Christmas morning, then it's okay. Who wants to open presents the day before. It would be like opening presents the day before your birthday. How is it different? Is it because there are more gifts to unwrap?

This is the situation I grew up with:

Christmas Eve, we went down to visit our extended family and attend Christmas Eve mass. It was followed by a huge dinner and many rounds of Tom and Jerrys. Of course I didn't get to experience them until college. It was worth it. Excellent wintery drink. On Christmas morning, when we were younger, my brother and I were usually up by seven or eight. It varied year to year who got up first, but because we shared a room when we were younger it didn't matter. Once one got up, the other soon followed. I'm pretty sure we were both up earlier than that, but didn't want to be the first one up. We were allowed to open the presents in the Christmas stockings before my parents got up, but that was it! We had to sit and wait anxiously while my parents slept in and waited for the coffee to be made. That was our other tradition: we had to make the coffee before our parents woke up. Dad always worked left to right with the presents under the tree. He also made sure that the present distribution was even amongst us kids.

All in all, a great tradition to grow up with. The memories I have on Christmas morning growing up are the kind of memories I think everyone should have.