Christmas Traditions
Every family has their own way of doing things, their own traditions that are practiced which make Christmas uniquely special. When I was a child, there would be many gifts appearing underneath the tree in the days leading up to Christmas. But as was often the case, my parents would hide many presents somewhere in the house or trunk of the car, only for them to appear on Christmas morning.
Unlike the kids on television that woke up Christmas morning and ran to open presents or those that jumped on their parents bed in excitement, my brothers and I were to remain in our bedrooms until we were told we could come out. I remember one year, where a rope was used to tie the doorknobs together to ensure we would stay put. But there was a logic behind it all. Oftentimes Dad would spend the early morning hours puting the new racecar set together or the new bike so that it could be enjoyed without us having to wait. It also prevented my brothers and I from throwing away the directions before something was built, a Christmas tradition we unintentionally practiced.
When we finally came out of our bedrooms, the site of the amount of presents was always breathtaking. There were always so many gifts that there wasn’t enough room for them all to fit underneath the tree. One of us boys would begin to pass out all the presents. While we ripped and tore through the colorful paper towards the gifts that Mom had wrapped, my parents sat together on the couch and watched. I wouldn’t understand until later how they could hold back from opening their own presents, but the gift for them on Christmas morning was watching their boys.
The sounds of Christmas morning are still so familiar. The shredding of paper. The tearing of boxes. The shouts of “Alright!” or “Wow” from my brothers and I. Mom asking, “Do you like that?”, even though knowing that we did. And the occasional reminder of “Don’t throw away the directions!”, from Dad.
Merry Christmas.