A Loss of Traditions
Christmas 2008 Wrap-Up
This year Christmas saw a lot of changes for my family and certainly strayed from the previous years which I have become accustomed to. I guess we’ll start by cranking out a list of things that have changed.
- Fresh Orange Rolls Christmas morning - I have fond memories of waking up in the morning and heading downstairs to open my stocking and then to bite into a plate of mom’s deliciously warm orange rolls. While I hear that they were usually made the night before, I’d still consider that enough time to be fresh in the morning. Unfortunately this year they were made 2 days before Christmas day, but this is really a moot point since they aren’t vegan and I wouldn’t be eating them anyways.
- Christmas Dinner on Christmas Eve followed by presents - Traditionally the family enjoys a nice Christmas Eve feast followed by the second tradition of each family member getting to open one present the night before Christmas Day. While the excitement of getting to open one present the night before may fade as the kids get older, I hold it as a long-standing and still exciting tradition. Unfortunately there was no opening of any presents on Christmas Eve and our dinner consisted of Round Table Pizza.
- Watching Christmas movies on TV - I don’t have a huge tolerance for Christmas movies but an occasional Rudolf the Rednose Reindeer or How the Grinch Stole Christmas once every year ain’t bad and it’s fun to watch classics like these with the whole family. I can’t complain too much since we did sneak in a viewing of “A Christmas Story” (although to be honest this is my least favorite of just about any Christmas-themed movie) but the priority of the night was to watch “The Italian Job” which is a great movie, but just doesn’t really fit with the spirit of Christmas.
- Dad’s Christmas Candle Carousel - While annoying at times, it has become a part of our family tradition as it was such a wonderful and memorable part of my Dad’s childhood tradition. An amazing and wonderful Christmas gizmo that fascinated him as a child (no wonder he turned out to be an engineer). Unfortunately it’s location was lost this year and it was not part of our Christmas has it has been in the past.
- Christmas Church Service - Normally something that is done every year in my religiously-oriented family. No complaints here as it isn’t a tradtion I’m particularly sad to see go, but since this is a list of traditions no longer occurring I thought I’d include it anyways.
- No Grandparents - Although this has been true for probably the last 3 years, it’s sad that my grandparents from my mother’s side have not been a part of my Christmas for so long. I remember them well from my childhood Christmases and I miss having to wait for Grandpa to finish his coffee and orange rolls before we could open presents. Grandma from my father’s side did come down this year and it was nice to have another member of the family there.
I think my greatest regret was that I didn’t get to share the traditions I cherish most from years of family Christmases with my girlfriend who left her family for the holidays to spend her Christmas with mine. I was so eager to share with her the traditions I had described to her in the week leading up to our arrival but sadly every single tradition that I had excitedly shared with her was disappointingly absent during the holidays. It seems the traditions I so enjoyed in my youth have slowly disintegrated over the years to the point where I am eating pizza on Christmas Eve and watching The Italian Job, taking the evening and turning it into what most would consider a typical Friday night.
Now it may sound like a lot of whining on my part, but really all of it doesn’t matter since Christmas is about spending time with family. I both realize and appreciate that during the holidays but I did feel a sense of sadness to see the Christmas traditions of my childhood fall by the wayside. Perhaps 2009 really will be the year of change that everyone makes it out to be.
