Tag - Holidays

We did manage to get our Christmas tree up this weekend. We have a permanent tree. You know, the kind in a box.  It’s like an old friend that we see every year.  Then at the end of the season, it goes back in the box until we see it again in December.  I’m so sentimental and prone to weeping, that as a child, when it was time to throw out the beloved Christmas tree, it would just about break my heart.  My dad would even cut off a little branch for me to keep as a souvenir.  Even as an adult, I thought it was so sad to see all the trees laying out on the curb for the garbage man.  So we got a permanent tree.

The first year we had it, it took Philip and I about 2 hours to figure out to put it up.  It’s gone faster each year and now it takes maybe 30 minutes, depending if the children helped or not. 

Getting the tree up was really helping in improving my mood.  When Charlotte came downstairs and saw the tree, with the lights lit but no ornaments she cried, "Oh how beautiful!! Mama!" and gave me such a big hug.  How can anyone be uncheered by a Christmas tree?

So we played some Christmas music and hung the ornaments.  We all have our favorites, of course.  Batman,

Bugs Bunny and the Hairy Monster,

Candy Doll,

Angel,

Rebecca’s Angel, 
Santa peering out of the Hurtgen Forest
(what can I say, Phil was a tanker).

I’ve always enjoyed Halloween.  I went trick or treating until I was a junior in high school.  My friends and I did make attempts at coming up with costumes, then hit the streets around 8:30.  This was in the mid to late 80’s, when trick or treating seemed to be dying out.  When we showed up, the neighbors were so grateful to see us that they practically emptied their bowls of candy into our bags.  I was sad to see trick or treating becoming lost to the ages.  However, the tradition is alive and well on our military bases!  Our tight knit communities with the small town feel really lends itself to keeping trick or treating alive.  Most of the neighbors don’t even bother going indoors on Halloween night.  So many kids come begging candy that it’s easier just to set up camp on your front lawn.  When we lived in Korea, we gave out 15 bags of candy.  Last year, on our base here, we gave out 7.

I’ve never been into the ghoulish or prankster aspect of Halloween.  I much prefer decorations that are cute rather than scary.  My husband used to tease me when he’d come home from work and found our house decked out for Fall and Halloween.  "We have a pumpkin infestation!," he’d say.

Our family actually has two food oriented Halloween traditions.  My grandma always made "goblin face" cookies.  Basically, they are two pumpkin shaped cookies with a yummy raisin filling between them.  The top pumpkin cookie gets a jack o’lantern face cut into it.  When my mom made them, she always let me do the faces.  I remember foundly my senior year in high school when one of my college-age cousins was living with us.  The two of us had a fun time cutting out the faces together, making each one different.  I really love these cookies, but cutting out the jack o’lantern faces can be time consuming.  One year, I found a ghost cookie cutter that I liked and made ghost cookies instead.  The ghost is bigger than the pumpkin, so the recipe yielded less cookies.  I made each ghost face the same and with less to do, I finished faster.  This year I found cake and cupcake stencils which I may use to quickly stencil the jack o’lanterns.  When my children are older, I’ll pass the jack o’lantern face making duties on to them.

The second Halloween food tradition also comes from my grandmother.  The story goes that my grandmother made a particular meal for dinner one Halloween.  It was simple to make and gave her time to get her children ready for trick or treating.  She made the same meal the next year and her children noticed.  It became known as the Halloween Dinner.  She made it every year after that. My mother has made it every Halloween and  I think my grandmother still makes it every year, too.  I have made the Halloween Dinner every year since I’ve been married.  All except one year.

That year was 1998.  I didn’t make the Halloween Dinner that year because I was in the hospital with my son, who had been born in the wee hours of the morning.  Yep, our oldest child is a Halloween baby!  That’s why we call him Boo.  Really, that’s the reason.

So now, with the decorating, the cookies, the costumes, the candy and the Halloween dinner, we manage to squeeze in a little birthday celebration for the boy.  It can be a little hectic, trying to get everything done in one day.  One year I invited his friends over at snack time for cupcakes and Halloween punch.  W-a-y too much work!  Boo would like to have a birthday party on his actual birthday, but I’ve explained to him why we can’t. I think in a  year or two, when he can help out more and his friends are more reliable, we’ll let him invite a couple of friends over for a small costume party, then take them all out trick or treating.  But for now, we  have a family celebration, usually with homemade cake and presents.  We also light the birthday ring for him.

On Sunday we are going to Boo at the Zoo.  If it’s something we enjoy, it may become a family tradition while we live here.

I’ll share some pictures of decorated house on Monday, for the Halloween Open House over at Don’t Try This At Home.

Someone posted a comment on my “Christmas Presents” entry, asking what gifts I buy for other people. I would love to tell you here, but all those people read my blog! But I can give you an idea of the kinds of gifts we give.

I usually give a mix of handmade and store bought gifts. Throughout the year, I keep an eye out for craft projects that I think would make good gifts. Usually I’m making something for myself and I realize that someone on my gift list might like one, too. I try to get started on a handmade gift as soon as possible so that I can finish it in plenty of time. In years past, I have been frantically waiting for projects to dry so I could package them up and send them off. Now I make a point of having all handmade gifts completed by September. The kinds of gifts I’ve made run the gamut. They usually reflect my favorite crafts of the moment. Some of my favorite handmade gifts I have given were a small wall hanging size quilt, a folk-art painted fireplace screen that looks like a row of shops and a stack of handmade cards.

Hand crafted gifts tend to be very time consuming and I want the process to be relaxing and peaceful, not hectic and pressured. So I don’t make all of my Christmas gifts. But I don’t deliberately choose who gets a homemade gift. I just wait for a project to speak to me. Sometimes a purchased item really calls to me instead. The present I bought for my grandma and grandpa this year is one of them. As soon as I saw it, I thought of them. Without giving too much away, it reminded me of Christmastime in their home when I was a little girl. One of their great-grandsons spends a lot of time with them and I thought he might enjoy seeing it, too. I knew right away that it was what I wanted for them.

I used to stress out over buying Christmas presents. I felt a certain pressure – from where, I’m not sure- to out-do the previous year’s present. What I’ve come to realize is that it truly is the thought that counts. “I thought of you when I saw this,” is all I’m trying to convey. Was last year’s present better? Maybe. I hope you’re not keeping track.

So that’s it. I try to keep things low stress and enjoyable. I keep an eye out for potential gifts all year and buy them or make them as soon as I can. I have a gift box in my closet to hide everything in and I keep an inventory in my household organizer.

Try not to hate me, but I’m almost done Christmas shopping! I just need to make the time to go to the PX without my son and pick up one last thing and I’m done.

A few years ago we ended up wallowing in Christmas Gift Excess. My feelings were a little hurt as my young children bounced from gift to gift saying, “What’s next?” without giving their gifts more than a passing glance. These were gifts that I had thoughtfully and joyfully bought for them and they just didn’t seem to appreciate the effort. Granted, they were very little, but I realized that year that we were starting down a dangerous path.

The next year we cut back dramatically. Our children each received 3 gifts, just like baby Jesus. Santa brought them one particularly large gift that was to be shared by the whole family. I filled their stockings with little trinkets. I explained the situation to my parents and asked that instead of many small gifts for each child, that they buy fewer but more meaningful gifts. They happily complied.

I have to admit, that on paper, our first scaled back Christmas looked great. But then I saw what my friends with similar aged children were buying. Their lists were 15 to 20 items long, for each child. I wavered in my enthusiasm as I wondered if I were setting my children up for a life of crime due to Christmas neglect. I stood my ground. Christmas is not about getting gifts, after all. My resolve was strengthened after reading the Christmas chapters in the Little House on the Prairie books. Laura and Mary were overwhelmed at receiving a tin cup, an orange and a penny in their Christmas stockings. They grew up just fine and so would my children.

Christmas Eve came around and Philip and I worked quickly to set the gifts out under the tree. (Well, I wasn’t all that quick because our baby Rebecca had been born just 2 days before!) Between the gifts we bought for the children, plus the gifts from grandparents, godparents, aunts and other family, the presents were still spilling out all over. The next morning was the usual Christmas Morning Chaos. But it was just the right amount. Boo and Pumpkin Girl were thrilled at their presents and didn’t even notice they had gotten significantly less than the year before. I think we really found a good balance.

One thing that I have noticed over the years is that the stocking stuffers never get played with. They get left in the stockings until the decorations are put away and then a few months later when we’re purging the toys, they get put into the give away pile. This year in their stockings, they’ll each get a video they’ve been asking for and a little candy. I’ve also put a new spin on a tradition from my dad’s childhood. He always had an orange in the toe of his stocking. To put a modern spin on this tradition, I now put a chocolate orange in the children’s stockings.

Limiting the number of Christmas presents has been a real blessing to us over the years. As the primary gift buyer, I am challenged to choose the very best gifts that I think they will enjoy most of all. No buying something just to buy it. Our playroom is overflowing as it is, so we aren’t adding a ton of new toys. The children genuinely like and play with the toys I’ve chosen for them. And most importantly – and let’s not forget this – I can be done Christmas shopping in mid October!

Have you looked around the stores lately?  The holidays are just around the corner!  I’m sure you’ve seen the signs.  I’ve been seeing Halloween candy for sale since August.  Even the Christmas decorations are creeping in.  In a few short weeks, most of us will either be deep in Holiday Denial or in a panic that we won’t be able to get it all done.  I’m like most of you in that I struggle to find a nice balance between achieving the "perfect" holidays and still being able to actually enjoy them myself.  Over the next few weeks, I think I’ll share some of the ways that I have learned to take back the holidays. This has been on my mind to do for a couple of weeks now and so it was very timely that today I received an email from my friend Elizabeth.  She wrote an article for Catholic Online about preparing for the holidays by spending time in prayer and meditation.  In the article, she talks about starting the holiday season by focusing not on ourselves and our endless "to do" lists, but instead, on turning our thoughts and prayers outward.  What an excellent idea! Please go read her article, even if you’re not Catholic!  Good things  are bound to happen when we, as Christians of any denomination, join together in prayer.