Sunday, December 23, 2012

My Idea of Christmas

Christmas to me is not complete without a few things.

Every Christmas needs a Christmas tree with lights and presents. Even if those presents are fake decorative presents... you just need something pretty underneath the tree. When I think of Christmas I think of little kids anxiously waiting for that long awaited morning. Christmas never seems as magical without a gaggle of kids standing at the top of the stairwell at 5am, waiting to wake up all the adults in the house so the presents can be opened. Christmas is best when I'm sitting next to my mommy kissing her cheek.

No matter how old you are I think you should always get a toy for Christmas. No matter how much you want that outfit, or picture frame or other adult-ly objects... everyone needs a toy to play with on Christmas day. And of course, Christmas can't be complete without hot apple cider and hot cocoa (although not to be enjoyed at the same time, obviously). I look forward to waking up on Christmas morning and eating my hot oatmeal for breakfast. Because when I was a kid my mom's rule was that you had to endure oatmeal for breakfast, and then you could eat whatever you wanted the rest of the day long. It taught us that good things were worth sacrificing for, since we all hated oatmeal. Haha. It's why I don't understand the concept of "Christmas Dinner" because after our oatmeal we didn't eat anything but chocolate and other assorted goodies all day long (brownies and fudge and divinity... Christmas can't be complete without divinity)!

Neither is Christmas complete without chocolate cordial cherries. Because it's one of the few candies my father really likes. So we always had a box of them on Christmas. Growing up in my house, you knew Christmas time hadn't started until the red boxes had arrived in the mail, because my uncle always sent boxes of candies and nuts and cheeses and things for Christmas. They went straight into the fridge, not to be opened until Christmas morning.

Let's see... every year we found an orange and a dime in the bottom of our stockings. It's based on some tradition because old people back down our family line had the same tradition. But apparently it was more exciting back then because oranges were a delicacy or something and dimes were worth a lot more back then haha. I never liked oranges, so mine usually sat at the bottom of my stocking, sometimes found the next year all nasty and green. But I'm going to start a new tradition with my family. CHOCOLATE oranges at the bottom of your stocking, and maybe even a quarter (we have to account for inflation, you know). Much better than real oranges. Chocolate oranges are the best.

On Christmas Eve we always got to open one present. But you always knew what that present was going to be. Every year we got new pajamas. When we were little sometimes mom made them by hand and made them match in cute little ways. One year we all looked like little elves. But usually they were just new pajamas so we'd look cute on Christmas morning. I like that tradition a lot. New pajamas are the best.

Yep, there's a little picture of what Christmas is like for me.