Holiday Traditions

‘Tis the holiday season, full of hope, joy, and expectation. For many of us, it’s the perfect time of year to have expectations clash with reality and make little grinches of all of us. No! There must be a way to see Christmas is coming. With Jen in her kerchief and Nick in his cap, we soon settle down for a short jaunt into… holiday traditions.

Jen’s Holiday Traditions

I didn’t grow up with much family close by. Dad was enlisted in the military and mom was a teacher. Money was tight. All of that said, September thru December was my favorite time of year. From school starting to my birthday to Halloween to Thanksgiving to Christmas, it was always a time of looking forward to the next amazing thing. I loved the anticipation and excitement of what was to come once the fall season started.

For me, holidays meant tradition and the coziness of our little family. Christmas morning was always magical with surprises and the comfort of spending time at home without any hustle and bustle or the need to go places. It was time to relax in our home and let go of the outside world for a time.

The first time I participated in a family gathering with Nick’s family was culture shock for me. It was Thanksgiving, and I had been accustomed to it being a formal meal with fancy food eaten on special dishes that we only took out for holidays. I was shocked by the number of people, the potluck atmosphere, and the paper plates and plasticware.

Nick’s Holiday Traditions

My extended family spent Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve together throughout most of my childhood. It was a beautiful, glorious rumpus of aunts, uncles, and cousins along with my immediate family. (Oh the noise, noise, noise, noise!) And then Christmas morning would be more relaxed with just my immediate family at home. Most years I felt so excited on Christmas Eve I’d awaken in the dead of the night just to plug in the tree lights and watch the twinkling reflections off the tinsel until morning.

When Jen and I were dating, it never occurred to me that she would be accustomed to any other kind of holiday traditions. Who expected a formal dinner with fine china on Thanksgiving? Not me, but it was how Jen grew up. For me, once I was too old to trick or treat any longer, Halloween was no longer a big deal. Jen may have been the first grown up I knew who loved Halloween and the whole Fall season in its own right.

Finding Our Own Holiday Traditions We Can Live With

Over the years, we’ve shared stories from our growing up and we’ve pieced together our own traditions. We do Halloween and Thanksgiving more Jen-style, with intricately carved pumpkins and a family dinner in the dining room. We do Christmas more Nick-style, with lots of lights, decorations, and cookie baking. We make a priority of making each other’s favorite parts of the holiday traditions memorable as we are making our own.

We hope that you all now will do just the same,
Whatever traditions the two of you name.
Make love the best gift for your spouse that you can,
Heart to heart and hand in hand.