Whoa! It’s freezing outside! And what’s that I see falling from the sky? Is it a bird? A plane? Superman? Nooo, silly. It’s called SNOW. Yep, it’s that time of year again. Time for slick roads and piles of snow drifts and happy shoppers buying last minute gifts for their loved ones and snowmen being built by children home from school. It’s the time for us, as one of my students posted, “to love those we couldn’t stand all year long.” (I think that’s pretty close to the update I saw . . . .)
Well, I was reminded the other night about some of the traditions we have in our household and where those traditions came from and why we have them. See, I love traditions. My husband does appreciate traditions to some degree, but not with as much enthusiasm as I do. (Probably because he’s the one who gets to trudge out to the shed and bring in 6-8 containers of all my Christmas decorations for the house and the trees–yes, I said TREES, plural.)
Both boys have their own little tree, decorated with ornaments of those treasures they adore as an individual. Those trees go in each of the end dormer windows. In the middle dormer, we have the family tree. But wait–shouldn’t it just be “our tree?” Yes, but see, here’s the problem: I’m a perfectionist and when Paul and I first got married, I had this beautifully decorated burgundy, cream, and ivory Victorian style tree. He said it didn’t say “him” anywhere on it, so to make his mark, he bought a BLUE Cubs ornament and placed in right in the front of the tree, right in the middle, for all to admire. Now, I love the Cubs too, but let’s be honest, it didn’t follow my tradition . . . or the color scheme.
So, since we had the boys, we would get school, homemade ornaments that we would add each year and I was slowly losing the “me” in the decorating. And there are certain ornaments that “belong” to each of us. The last ornaments that have to go on are the boys’ first Christmas ornaments, our first Christmas ornament together as a married couple, and of course, the ornament with a reminder of the reason Jesus came here to earth in the first place: to die on the cross for our sins. The ornament represents a nail, similar to that put in his hands and feet. It’s very special to our family.
So there is some sort of order I have to have. But I was finding that the boys would just put whatever ornaments on that they wanted whenever they wanted. This irritated me. I wanted to make the moments super special. Plus, the ornaments found themselves on the bottom of the tree, in one spot, wherever the little guys could reach the tree to place them. Therefore, downstairs, I have designated the front window tree “the girl tree”, decorated in silver and white and lavender/purple shades. It’s absolutely stunning, if I do say so myself!
As far as traditions go, I have a beautiful nativity set that we always place on the sofa table in the living room. From the time Jacob was a baby, I placed each piece on the table, telling the story of Jesus’ birth. Little did I know that he would remember the details to this day. I know, he’s almost eight and he knows the story and could recite it to you. But, the fact that he was literally pumped up and excited to place the nativity pieces on the table just made me smile and warm all over. He made sure his brother, who is five, was right by us again this year as I took out each piece and told the story again, like I have every year.
What are your traditions? What do you pass on to your kids? When I was young, I remember my Daddy sitting by the lights of the Christmas tree and coloring with me. I have then passed that on to my boys as well. Jacob gets so excited when we color by the tree. He hates coloring any other time of the year, but I think it’s the idea of us doing something together that makes it special to him.
What do you do to make Christmas special to your family and friends? How is Christmas special to you this year? I would love to hear your thoughts and traditions. Please feel free to share with us all. And Have a Merry Christmas!
I laughed when I read about your tree. For years, my mom let us kids decorate the tree (meaning it was uneven and generally unattractive). Once we were all older, though, she took the tree over and decorated it in the Victorian style. It’s beautiful, but it’s a little too shop-window for the Thompson household. That’s why my sister and I always sneak a blinking light bulb somewhere on the tree — the entire tree starts blinking tackily, and it drives my mother crazy. We put the bulb in a different place each year, so she has to find it in order to make it stop!
Just thought I’d share a little Thompson fun!