Last week, I invited my fellow content creators to spend this week creating some themed content and today is the second day of 5 Days of December – holiday writing prompts to inspire you to create! Today is Day 2 where we’re talking about How I Spent My Christmas.
When I was growing up, Christmas was really about Christmas Day. You woke up, opened all your toys, ate delightful sugary things, and then crashed later in the afternoon. We didn’t have a big extended family so it was usually just us on Christmas.
For many years, my little family of three experienced Christmas in the same way. We were far from family and often had our own little Christmas, which is perfectly fine. But when I moved north to Maryland, we moved closer to my family and Christmas for me has become a three-part tradition.
Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve used to be the day of last minute shopping and maybe a candlelight service if we’re really together. Now, I’ve become the traditional host for our family Christmas Eve dinner which includes my family, my mom, my sister and her husband, and my brother and his wife. Sometimes there are more but that’s usually our core.
We get together at my house for more food than anyone can possibly imagine (this year, we kept it simple by making lasagna and ham in the slow cooker and buying the most amazing pies from a local farm market). We gather around the Christmas tree and exchange presents and then we have fun playing games or watching movies.
We hugged each other goodbye and made plans to meet up again tomorrow but first, there was one major milestone…
Christmas Morning
This is it! The moment everyone waits for! My son actually wanted to go to sleep early so he could make Christmas come faster. And like the traditions of my childhood that I spelled out yesterday, I told him he was not to go downstairs in the morning without me UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. So he waited until 8am to wake me and I struggled as best I could to get up. Apparently I was a little slow because I found everyone waiting at the bottom of the stairs for me.
It took us about an hour to go from this
to a room filled with bags and boxes and wrapping paper. It was definitely a successful morning. Evan got the watch he’s been dreaming about. He says wearing it makes hime “feel like a man.”
And the dogs were pretty happy too. Layla got her standard stuffed coal because she’s a holy terror most of the year.
And Roscoe finally felt like the big dog with his Christmas pickle.
That pickle, however, has been a major point of contention as Layla tries to steal it and Roscoe fiercely defends it. I even caught him taking a Christmas nap with his new pickle.
Once everyone settled down, it was time to get dressed for the last part of the day.
Christmas Dinner
It’s become a tradition every year for us to join my brother-in-law’s family for Christmas dinner. The matriarch of the family passed away a short while ago and it was important to everyone (and what she would have wanted) for us to all gather at her home (“the family home”) and carry on her traditions.
My family and everyone from Christmas Eve drive about an hour away where we met up with what we consider our extended family for a loud, fun, and frolicking meal. And yes, there were dogs there too.
After a long 24 hours, we headed home where we promptly crashed into bed now that the sugar high had worn off. But we went to bed with our hearts and bellies full and, more importantly, with my son declaring it was the Best Christmas Ever!
Read and join in yesterday’s writing prompt: 5 Days in December: The Best Christmas Ever