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Christmas Traditions

December 21st, 2009 - Uncategorized - 19 Comments »

NOTE: Tomorrow is the big Pick-My-License-Plate Vote. Be sure to stop by and help decide my fate.
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Amy and I haven’t really settled in on too many Christmas traditions. We want to – we just haven’t landed on any winners. Like any married couple, we’re still having to scroll through each of our family’s traditions to see which ones make the cut. Here are a few from my childhood that I’m still not sure about.

santa

Picture with Santa
I’m not quite sure how it happened, but I was forced to get my picture taken with Santa until I was eighteen. Let that sink in for a minute. Not as a joke. Not as a fun thing to do with your girlfriend. Nope, just me and my brothers living the dream. What did you do during your Christmas break freshman year of college? Really? That sounds fun. Me? Oh, I sat on an old man’s lap.

Candy Tree
You know, it’s the one with 25 candy slots, one for each December day leading up to Christmas. There’s never been more of an incentive for me to wake up early. God forbid I get stuck with the lemon Jolly Rancher.

Top of the stairs
On Christmas morning, my Dad would make me and my brothers wait at the top of the stairs while he set up the video camera. My suspicion is that his “setting up” also included making (and drinking) a pot of coffee, reading the Sunday paper, opening and re-wrapping our gifts, and jogging a couple miles. I think I’ve spent more time at the top of those stairs than doctor’s office waiting rooms and dentist’s chairs combined.

Hygiene joke
Every year it was the same thing. Towards the bottom of our stocking, we’d pull out a bunch of personal hygiene items (deodorant, toothpaste, etc) and I’d exclaim, with the same gusto as the first time I said it, “Looks like Santa’s trying to tell me something!” My family’s courtesy laugh was also a tradition.

Clear the den
One of the greatest things about Christmas is that your den gets transformed into a toy haven. Wrapping paper is everywhere. My 10-speed is propped up against the coffee table. The Sega Genesis is plugged in and already being played. Then around 3pm, like clockwork, we had to take our loot upstairs/outside, thus transforming the den back into it’s boring self. At that moment, it was already the 26th.

What about you? Got any Christmas traditions that we should try out/avoid?
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  • http://intensedebate.com/people/evdaddy evdaddy

    While mine are not as humorous as yours (are they ever?), I did write about some of our family traditions. Check them out at http://www.talkgwinnett.com/2009/meaning-christma…

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/evdaddy evdaddy

    While mine are not as humorous as yours (are they ever?), I did write about some of our family traditions. Check them out at http://www.talkgwinnett.com/2009/meaning-christma…

  • Pingback: Tweets that mention tylerstanton.com » Christmas Traditions -- Topsy.com

  • Jared Pursell

    I don't believe that picture with Santa! If it is true your dad just became my hero.

    • http://1month1gift1life.com Jared

      Your dad is still my hero.

  • Joseph

    Don't know if you have kids or not, but my pastor has kind of a cool tradition. They're all allowed to open one gift on Christmas Eve, and it's always a new set of pajamas. Sounds a little goofy, I know, but they all seem to dig it.

  • Jessica Lunsford

    We always have Monkey Bread and Mimosas. I definitely think Bay and Collier would love the Mimosas!

  • http://www.JennJoshua.com Jenn Joshua

    Picture with Santa at age 18? Haha, nice!

  • Mom

    I'm glad we made such an impact in your life!

  • http://wbanderson.wordpress.com Brandon A.

    I get deodorant from "Santa" every year. Every year since I was about 15. Santa apparently thinks I stink.

    Also, my grandma gets me a beard trimmer every year. Another hint?

  • Sarah

    We also have to sit at the top of the steps every year (notice I'm using the present tense here…. I'm 31 years old), but we have to wait for Mom to go into the living room where the presents are, which we can't see from our perch, and come back and say "Guys! Santa didn't come this year!"

    But we also get sticky buns made in a Christmas-tree shaped pan, so that makes up for it.

    But then we have to watch "One Magic Christmas" (haven't seen it? Really? The classic with Mary Steenburgen? Where the Christmas angel Gideon helps the mom get some Christmas spirit which in turn brings her dead husband back to life? With the epic line, "But Daddy's never been dead before!")

    Love yours, though – the Santa picture is awesome. The look of resigned bewilderment on Santa's face says it all.

  • http://robshep.com Rob Shepherd

    We go to a movie every Christmas. It's one of my favorite traditions. We open gifts, eat and then go to a movie with the entire fam.

  • Rebecca

    18? that's nothing. my oldest sister is 36 and we are still doing a santa picture for my mom every single year with all our husbands and kids in the picture as well. Our only way to save face is that we now dress someone/something up as Santa.

  • abby

    hide the pickle in the tree.

  • http://1month1gift1life.com Jared

    Saying "AWESOME" after opening each and every present.

  • http://naminganimals.blogspot.com Elizabeth

    Love the top of the stairs. When my sister and I were little, we would break out the baby monitors on Christmas Eve and use them Christmas morning to communicate with our parents (the living room was in between our bedroom and theirs). My mom would come do our hair (because, of course, we couldn't possibly look like we had just gotten out of bed…on Christmas morning…in our pajamas) and my dad would set up the video camera. The best footage we have is when he left the camera rolling on the tripod and we're opening presents just outside of the shot.

  • Rachel

    And how about how "clear the den" gets earlier and earlier every year? Back in the good days, it was around 4 or 5. Now, its like a race to get our gifts open before dad's ready to call it a day.
    So what if we're all in our 20s.

  • Kerry

    Umm…did we grow up in the same family?

    Sounds like it.

  • sethbartell

    Since we my family wanted to really keep the CHRIST in Christmas, we couldn't even pretend to believe in santa. Instead, our family liked to pretend that Mary and Joseph brought us gifts, because thats so much better than believing in Santa….