Yes, I got some sleep last night!!! I went to bed at 9 and didn't wake up until 5:30! Well not completely, I got up 5 times to go to the bathroom, but it never took me long to fall back to sleep! I actually feel awake today!
Besides that there isn't much going on really. I'm excited to be almost done with my Christmas shopping! I only have 2 people left to shop for, leaving B with 3 people including me. And I'm so excited to give him his presents! That's my favorite part of Christmas, watching other people's faces when they open your gift. I told B last night I can't wait to give him his stuff and he says "I don't know why, I didn't tell you I wanted anything." My response, "That's the best part!"
Being that I don't have much else to write about, I want to ask what your holiday traditions are. B kind of upset me this last weekend because he thinks my family's tradition is stupid and I want to know what you all think. *He's never been into Christmas. Even as a child he wouldn't get up and he'd tell him mom "The presents will be there at 10 when I want to get up."*
Ok, so my tradition: We always opened our stockings, then went and got cookies and hot coco, and coffee. Then one person plays Santa. Each person gets a gift and then we open them one by one. Showing everyone what we got and thanking the person who got it for us. It takes a bit longer, but I love watching everyone's faces and knowing that everyone knows what gifts I got for them. I think it promotes appreciation and thoughtfulness.
B's tradition: (His sister was allowed to open her stocking while waiting for B to get out of bed, sometimes she had to wait 4 hours!) They would pass out all the gifts and then open them all at once.
You see B doesn't like my tradition because he says it takes too long and we spend so much more time at my mom's than anywhere else because of the way we do things (1, that's not true, we spend just as much time at his uncle's with his family and 2, starting next year the only house we are going to is his uncle's, we are asking everyone else to come to us.) The part I don't understand is that B doesn't like Christmas because he thinks it's too commercialized. The way I see it, my tradition takes some of the commercialization out of it. It makes you appreciate the time and thought that some one else put into buying something for you. And in my experience with his tradition, the kids don't even know who got them what. I hate the thought of my children not thanking the people that gave them a gift.
Now that this has turned into a really long post, I'll get to my point. We were talking about how our own family tradition will be and we kind of argued. We have eliminated most travel and we like the idea of doing "our Christmas" on Christmas eve and having Christmas day be about the kid(s). Besides that we can't agree on anything. I think we should do things like my family, especially to teach appreciation and if we aren't doing "Our Christmas" that day, it won't take as long. But B wants to do it his way.
So here's my questions:
1) What's your tradition?
2) Do you think I'm wrong for insisting that we do things the way my family has?
Any help is much appreciated, and suggestions on how we could combine the two would be great too! I know we have a whole year to figure it out, but it really hurt when he said "Your tradition is just stupid."
Our family tradition was a little closer to B's. Everyone got all their presents, then everyone opened all of them together. This helped because not everyone got the same number of presents.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of your tradition, but I guess in the end its about just enjoying each other. I think you can do that either way you go. ;-) Maybe you'll come up with something thats all your own?
FYI, I looove you new header. Too cute!
Our family tradition is much like your own. One person divides all of the gifts into a pile at each recipient. Then, we each take turns choosing which of our gifts to open while the rest watch and comment.
ReplyDeleteAfter the gifts have been opened, we eat waffles with strawberries and whipped cream. Mmmm. I can't wait.
If they don't hurt anyone, then there is no such thing as a stupid tradition. :) But, compromise is always a good idea. Maybe everyone could open everything, but then each person should have a moment to talk about their gifts and thank the givers.