Traditions Reclaimed

I have very great memories of Christmas from when I was a young boy. Family, Friends, Santa, Christmas Trees, etc.

Decorations: Decorations would match the current decor of the house. Anyone remember Mauve? How about Aqua? Oh Yes...we had Christmas Trees decorated in those colors. Don't expect red and green lights on our family Christmas Trees...only white as they would go with the color of the year.

How did all of those decorations make it on the tree? Normally with the help of my parent's good friend Doug. Let's just say Doug was in touch with his feminine side and knew exactly how to decorate for my mom. He may be the only person I know who was actually allowed to decorate for my mom.

Real Tree? Normally so, until pretty fake trees came into the world. When I met Amy, I got to enjoy a new tradition...driving to the mountains of NC and cutting down a live Christmas tree from a Christmas Tree farm. For years, I never even thought about where Christmas trees came from. I was amazed and absolutely loved this tradition. And the decorations on the Greenwood tree(s)...oh the decorations. They have more ornaments than anyone I have ever seen. All still packaged in the original Hallmark boxes. It was so neat to help decorate their tree as each ornament would bring back memories.

Santa: As a child, my parents would take us to Richmond to see the "real" Santa. It has always been a great memory for me. We would eat Reindeer cake, while the Reindeer were walking on the roof of the Miller & Rhodes Department store. Yes...you could actually hear their footsteps. Then you would go get in line to sit on Santa's lap. You first talked to the Snow Queen and she asked you questions about what you wanted for Christmas and if you had been good. Then Santa would turn to you and call you by name. He would even know that you saw him in the same spot last year. As a child, it was simply amazing. Then Miller & Rhodes closed and that ended the tradition. About that same time, we started traveling for Christmas so our Christmas trees were replaced with palm trees.

Our family traditions normally began on Christmas Eve with family and friends coming over for Christmas Eve dinner and to exchange gifts. There was always a special visitor that night...Santa Claus. He would stop by with a gift for each of the children and let us know that he would be by later.

Christmas Morning: Christmas morning was so exciting as a child. We would have to wait until Mom and Dad were ready, which was never the same time that we were ready. We would come down the steps and the presents would be under the tree, wrapped in wrapping paper that would coordinate with the colors of the Christmas tree (of course). There would sometimes be larger gifts like swingsets that would be assembled and in place outside. One year I actually heard "Santa" outside my window as I was sleeping. As he was putting together the swingset, it was hitting the outside of my bedroom wall. I walked out back and what to my tired eyes appeared...a man that looked like my dad running around the corner.

There were so many great memories of Christmas as a child.

So once Amy and I started our family, we started talking about traditions we wanted to continue. The first is that we want to celebrate Christmas in our own home. My mom still arranges for Santa to come by on Christmas Eve to visit with everyone and he still brings one special gift to all of the kids (Peyton, Cole & Bailey). We have a fake Christmas tree and decorate it with a wide assortment of Amy's ornaments. We have actually added a couple small trees for Peyton's miniature ornaments. Amy is great at decorating the Christmas tree. I decorate the outside of the house (and yes...our porch lights are working).

This year we started a new tradition which goes back to my childhood traditions. We just returned from a great mini vacation to Richmond and we went to see the Legendary Santa this morning. Thanks to a facebook friend, I found out earlier this month that the Santa from my childhood is still in Richmond. He went from Miller & Rhodes to Thalhimers and now he is at the Children's Museum of Richmond. I was SOOOO excited to find out and immediately signed us up. So this morning we visited him. Peyton does not like getting too close to Santa (or "Ho Ho" as he calls him). Pictures to follow. It was an amazing experience for me because it brought back the childhood memories and I look forward to making this a tradition for my family.

So now our family traditions start to take shape and I am so excited to create life long memories for Peyton.

What are your family traditions for Christmas?

Merry Christmas to all!