Family Christmas Traditions...
or Not!

Jenna Reagan from My Homemade Decorations, Christmas Decorations!


As a kid I was always jealous of the families who had all of those special Christmas traditions. Decorating the tree together, going caroling (which for some reason seemed like it would be fun), I was even jealous of the people who stood outside the grocery store and rang the little bells together. My family wasn't like that. We didn't bake cookies, hang mistletoe, or read A Christmas Carol around the fireplace. We didn't even have a tree every year.

The one thing we did do was drive six hours to go to my uncles house where my mom's side of the family got together. Being that I got very easily car sick (not to mention I didn't particularly like my relatives) I didn't exactly look forward to this visit. Luckily for me we no longer do that.

What I didn't realize at the time is that while we didn't have traditions year after year, we did have a tradition of family time that I didn't realize. Things such as visiting Santa at the mall, making a Christmas list, putting out milk and cookies for Santa (and carrots for his reindeer), and opening presents on Christmas morning somehow went unnoticed.

Another tradition that developed as I got older was watching It's a Wonderful Life. At a young age I remember my dad watching this every year. Being that my attention span was no longer than that of a goldfish, I would only watch about five minutes before leaving to play doll house. The older I got, the longer I was willing to sit and watch the movie until finally I would sit and watch the whole thing with him (granted, even he didn't watch the whole thing at once and usually finished it in about four or five sittings).

Once I realized all of these traditions that my family had, I felt bad for all those other people stuck going to giant family gatherings, forced to go caroling or bell ringing in the cold, stuck up on making sure all of these customs were performed year after year. Without that kind of pressure, the holidays are much more enjoyable.

Wendy: Thanks Jenna!