We are knee deep in holiday spirit at our house. That's what happens when you have one parent who is Jewish and one parent who is Christian, lots of holiday cheer. December is a crazy month. The kids are inundated with gifts from us and from family. The get the receiving part, I think they have a little trouble with the giving. We try to teach them about sharing with others and getting gifts for each other, but they are small so it's hard.
At Andy's school they have an angel tree (well, technically it's an eagle tree because their mascot is the eagles, but you get what I mean), so I had Andy pick out a few angels and go shopping with me. One of the things we needed was a winter coat. We had gotten his coat at Costco this year, so I suggested we all go there to pick out a coat for our angel. Unfortunately, since it got cold over Thanksgiving there weren't any coats left. Charlie and I weren't in the mood to shop for anything else that day, which is unusual when we go to Costco, but we did come across a nice variety case of Leinenkugel beer. As Charlie said, "You mean we came here to buy a coat for a needy child and left with nothing but a case of beer?". Yep, sadly that's how it went. Great lesson for the kids.
On Saturday we put up our tree but had friends coming over so left the decorating until Sunday. We've had a fake tree for 3-4 years now, and it's still weird to me. We had a very strong tradition at our house growing up where my dad would take all the kids out to a tree farm to get our tree. My dad or one of my brothers would climb a 50 foot tree and cut off the top and then we would take it home. Couldn't be fresher. We did it every year. My dad would string the lights and my mom would get out all the decorations. One year we even video taped the journey so we could show it to our children and grandchildren someday. It's actually pretty hilarious, my brother and dad really play it up for the camera. Anyway, Charlie and I tried the real tree thing a couple of years, but they ended in disaster. The first year it was pretty much dead before we got home and after we took it down I clogged and almost ruined the vacuum cleaner with pine needles. The second year Charlie brought the gas powered leaf blower/vac into the house to take care of the cleanup. Very bad idea. After that we found out Charlie was allergic to cedar and that solved all my issues with trying to have a live tree. I do miss the smell of a real tree in the house, but the fake ones are so much easier.
The tradition isn't quite the same as what I had growing up, but it's turning into our tradition, and I hope that my kids will have nothing but fond memories of it. As we were getting the Christmas decorations out, the kids were so excited to see things they remembered from previous years, like the snowman that stacks inside itself. It made me remember the happy feelings I got as a kid as I watched my mom unpack our decorations. I know it was a pain for her, but I loved it. I still remember the Mrs. Clause candle she put out every year. Thinking of it gives me warm fuzzies. With my kids the tradition is going to be a little different. Instead of watching out for sap when you decorate the tree, you have to look for branches that haven't been spread out yet.
This year, after we put all the decorations away, we moved over to the menorah and lit the Hanukkah candles. Charlie and I were guessing that not many families light the candles with Christmas music in the background. But that's just us. We're not doing a good job of teaching the kids about either religion, but I hope that we are teaching them some and it is enough for them to investigate further as they get older. I have no doubts that Andy will, because he truly seeks out knowledge, but I hope we don't let the girls down.
So the stockings are hung, we are nearing the end of Hanukkah, and we're gearing up for the end of school and Christmas with my family. Surprisingly, I'm pretty calm. My shopping is basically done, I just have a few odds and ends to tie up, and hopefully instead of being frantic for the rest of the month we can enjoy ourselves. That's the plan anyway.
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