When you’re a kid, Christmas is Jingle bells, Santa Claus and presents but as you get older Christmas becomes so much more. There are always the Christmas tradtitions. For my family, we have a Christmas eve party at my house with all of the cousins, aunts, uncles, friends, everyone. We all eat, hangout, play the white elephant game, read the story of Jesus’ birth and sing silent night and then everyone goes home. That tradition has remained solid, no exceptions. However, As we’ve all gotten older things have changed, all the cousins have gotten married, had kids, and moved away so not everyone is able to make it home for Christmas eve every year. Also, there are traditions that have not necessarily changed but have been altered. For instance, when my brother and i were younger, after everyone left on christmas eve, we would get to open one present(usually Pajamas), and then we would lay out cookies for santa and go to bed. Now, My brother is moved out and married, so after everyone leaves, we do Christmas with him and his wife. And then they leave and me and my parents watch a movie.
Now, Christmas morning is probably where some of my fondest childhood memories took place. I remember when i was younger, I would wake up before everyone else and try and go wake up my older brother, there is a 9 year age difference between the two of us so you might see where this became difficult. I would try to wake him up and he would make me get back in the bed and wait until he was ready to get up, or until I annoyed him enough to get up and go get mom and dad. We would go downstairs and see what santa left and then my mom would make our traditional Christmas breakfast, and then the grandparents and cousins would all go over to each others houses and see what everyone got.(we were all next door neighbors).
As I get older, I wish that I could go back and tell my 5, 6, 7, 8 year old self to savor the moments, Now i would give anything to have a Christmas morning like the ones I did when i was a kid. Don’t get me wrong, Christmas is still AMAZING around my house. We still have the same traditional Christmas Breakfast, we still open presents, and we still have fun, it’s just a little bit more intimate now.
The older I get, i start to think about the future, and I’m realizing that there always was a time for my cousins, when they grew up, and they had their last Christmas morning at home, i know they did, and I am trying so hard to savor the moments that I have, because one day, I’ll be grown, and on my own, starting my own traditions with my own family and I’ll be the one coming home for Christmas.
So in this season, I challenge you to stop and reflect on the memories that you have with your families, on your traditions, and really savor the moment that you have this Christmas season.
aladylookingforward 