Christmas Traditions Made to Be Broken

Christmas traditions were made to be broken, kept and created...

I got to thinking about how Christmas was when I was a kid. The running joke in our immediate family was always, "It's just another (last name) holiday." Which, every time that phrase was used it meant it was another holiday full of full-fledged arguing. Everything would start with my mother trying to be totally top notch high class, eating off the fine china, cooking gourmet food and forcing us all to come to the table dressed in our holiday best. None of us were comfortable, we could care less about fine china and gourmet food and none of us really liked the other. Sounds like a fine Jerry Springer show, huh?

But really, nothing was EVER good enough for my mother, which created a lot of tension and arguing in our house; especially around the holidays. So there's the #1 tradition made to be BROKEN! No arguing!

I've never cooked a gourmet meal or made my daughter dress in her best to come sit at the table. Hell, I don't even own fine china. In fact, this Christmas my mother cancelled on me and since I was "supposed" to be spending Christmas day with my mother, my father was invited elsewhere...so it was my daughter and me. We ate at a Chinese Buffet for lunch and watched movies and had grilled cheese for dinner. How's that for fine china and fancy footwork? I know, it may sound sad to some and I realize it kind of is, but we had a great day snuggling on the couch, eating popcorn, and watching movies. #2 tradition made to be BROKEN. Fine china, fancy meals, uncomfortable clothing - BROKEN!!!

Now there are some traditions that I wanted to keep from my Christmas's as a child. The first is that Santa always brought a train set and set it up around the tree. I bought my daughter's train set the first year she was born. Sadly, this year it stopped working. My dad, however, brought down the train set he bought for me when I was born thirty some years ago. It works! To me this is special because it was mine, it's old, and my dad kept it all these years and it's now been officially passed down to me!!! My daughter loves the train. Every year she says, "I hope Santa remembers that train set this year!" #1 tradition to be kept - Santa's train set.

The other tradition to keep is that every Christmas morning I remember my dad saying, "You girls have to wait in here. I have to go check and make sure Santa's not still in the living room." And he would go out and turn on the train set and the tree lights. Then we were allowed to rush out. I do the same thing now for my daughter, except now in the age of technology, I make sure the video camera is running too! #2 tradition to keep - making sure Santa made it out of the house ok.

And the third tradition to keep, of course, is setting out the milk and cookies for Santa. But it goes beyond that...there were always crumbs left on the table and dad would make a huge deal about the mess he made. Only appropriate that I continue that...and take it a few steps further. #3 tradition to keep - making sure Santa makes the appropriate mess.

Now there are things that I've done different every year as well. It keeps it exciting. One year I had a friend crawl outside my daughter's bedroom window and shake bells and yell "Ho! Ho! Ho!" when she went to bed. Then last year I left Santa's boot in the chimney. And this year, Santa made a mess with footprints throughout the living room. He also borrowed her hat and left her a note thanking her.

If she still believes next year I'm going to have to come up with a real zinger!!!!

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Today I am grateful for my daughter, hot gooey cheesy pizza, snow that sometimes makes me feel like I'm in a movie scene, and people you know you can count on.