The Collapse of Christmas Morning

It isn't really the downfall of an entire empire just the evolution of how Santa and Mrs Claus wakes up on Christmas Day. The kids have all grown up and some have moved away. Each one now has their own Christmas traditions and things they do as their own little families. That is exciting that we taught them to make the event memorable by creating something special together. However it leaves my wife and I a little bit lost.

As our kids grew up we created several of our traditions we would partipate in during the holidays. Some of them were our own creation and others were traditional ones that we adopted as well. They were all fun but now time has passed and it doesn't seem like those Christmas events will fade away. Here is a list of some of those:

1) Cookies and Milk for Santa

We no longer leave out goodies by th the fireplace for Santa. This is for several reasons. First there are no kids to leave them out on Christmas Eve before bedtime. Second, I think one time we did it and the dog kept eating them. Mavrick would surely help himself. And lastly, "Santa" is a diabetic now and trying to keep the weight off. Carrots and almond milk just don't cut it.

2) Mountains of Presents

There were times when we used to have mountains of gifts under the tree. With little kids we could always get more gifts because many of them didn't cost much. Little kids ar like that. Big kids are a differnt story. Their toys cost a lot more these days. Santa and Mrs Claus is on a budget. Bigger presents might actually mean fewer presents. Also we have no clue what to get our kids and their spouses.......gift cards. A little bit boring but at least we didn't get them something that will thrown in the back of the closet. Note: Grandchildren might resurrect this tradition!

3) Using the Number System

When our kids were....well kids.....they were pretty smart. They would eventually guess what was in their presents under the tree. So we needed to devise a method that kept them from guessing as easily. All the presents "from Santa" had numbers instead of names. No names at all. So you might guess the box had Legos in it......but you wouldn't know if you were getting the Legos or someone else. With kids in different part of the country now and schedules of visiting other family this tradition might very well disappear. We still did it some this this year but it wasn't quite the same.

4) Stocking Pins

I can't remember even why we started this tradition. I had made custom labeled stockings for each of the kids and then added a pin to the stocking. In the beginning it was just a pin. Later it began tying in to the theme of each Christmas as we tried to match things up more. Alas, as more kids spending their own Christmas' at their homes, we may see this one fade away too. We had to decide that if you didn't come home for the holidays then you didn't get a pin. It was just too much to make all the pins for so many. Rules are rules. This one was fun though.

5) Stars for the Tree

The last few years it has been a struggle to complete the new star for the tree. We have made a new star for the tree every year for as long as I can remember. A new star was partly a task by one of the kids. They would make up an idea for their construction and put it together. Here recently the star has also played a part in the theme that was established. Now, I have to come up with the idea, make the star, get it finished and put it up. Not always accomplished as quickly as desired. I think it was put up the last few days before Christmas for the last three years. Sadly, this one might disappear as well.

Well, it looks like Santa and Mrs Claus will need to revamp and evolve to keep up the Christmas spirit. No bah-humbugs here......just facing the changes.

Merry Christmas
Eugene Thompson
ET This I Believe.