Every Christmas Eve since I was about fourteen years old, as often as we were all together, my sisters and brother and I would drag our mattresses and pillows from our bedrooms into the living rooms, arrange them snugly around the Christmas tree, and fall asleep under the Christmas tree lights. I think it started out as our attempt to be as close as possible to the gifts so we would be ready to open them bright and early Christmas morning. It evolved into a Christmas tradition of our bonding that has continued for years. It is one of my very favorite traditions, and I have many fond memories of nights spent talking and laughing with my siblings.
As the holidays approach, I find myself thinking more and more about how my husband Matt and I are going to celebrate them for the first time with our daughter. It will be Gracelyn’s first holiday season, and I want them to be memorable – even if she will only be able to recall them through photos and videos.
I was born on the island of Madagascar (yes, “like the movie”) which is located off the coast of southeast Africa. My parents were medical missionaries, so I spent my childhood growing up in Australia, Papua New Guinea, England, Kenya and here in the United States. My husband was born in Owatonna, lived a few years here in Rochester, and then moved back to Owatonna. While we dated, we had countless discussions and sharing of stories about our lives growing up. When we got engaged and went through pre-marriage counseling, we spent a significant amount of time talking about how we were going to mesh our two very different cultures and lives not only for our wedding ceremony, but also for the rest of our lives. One of those topics was about holidays.
As far as holidays went, I grew up celebrating Easter, Christmas, and New Year’s Day among others. It wasn’t until my family moved to the States the first time that I learned about Thanksgiving. A day dedicated to being thankful and eating a giant turkey? I’m in! When we moved to Kenya, we brought the tradition of celebrating Thanksgiving with us and continued it.
Matt and I were both raised in Christian homes, so celebrating holidays like Christmas and Easter were a must. Thanksgiving as well. The first few years of our marriage, when it was just the two of us, we worked it out year-to-year with our families that we would spend one holiday with one side and the next with the other. With our daughter Gracelyn, we want her to experience holidays and our families, but we also want to create traditions of our own.
What holiday traditions will our family hold?
That has left me wondering what traditions our family will hold: Do we have a specific dish we eat at Thanksgiving? At Christmas, how many gifts do we give her? Do we open them on Christmas Eve like Matt’s family or on Christmas Day like my family? Or do we do a combination? Which church services do we attend? What do we tell her about Santa? At Easter, do we share the traditional Malagasy (from Madagascar) dish of rabbit or duck or do we eat ham? What about the Easter bunny?
My desire is to establish holiday traditions with her that will be memorable – like sleeping under the Christmas tree on Christmas eve was for my siblings and me. But regardless of what we decide to do, I want Gracelyn to understand why we’re celebrating the holidays together as a family.
What holiday traditions do you have with your littles?
