So Many Holiday Traditions - Part 3

From visiting relatives, to singing Christmas carols, making gingerbread houses, taking family drives to see holiday lights, and counting down the days with an Advent calendar, family holiday traditions abound. There are hundreds of customs across the country, and the world for that matter, that families participate in each holiday season. Here are a few of my favorites.

When her children were little, one of my grown daughters began a tradition that she still carries on to this day. All of her four children are now adults yet they still look forward to this tradition. Each Christmas Eve each member of the family receives a gift of new pajamas. Many families share this tradition with a few tweaks, such as PJ's that all match each other therefore making for coordinated family pictures in the morning. Or, the doorbell rings on Christmas Eve and the children run to answer it to find a sack of wrapped gifts, one for each family member and each containing new pajamas. I've been told that young children are willing to get ready for bed on Christmas Eve when they have brand new pajamas to

put on!

Another custom for families with young children is to wrap each child's gifts in a different wrapping paper design. For example, all of Johnny's gifts may be wrapped in red plaid and all of Susie's gifts might be wrapped in green stripes, and so on. Which wrapping paper is associated with which child is unknown until Christmas morning thus preventing a great deal of “peeking” if wrapped gifts are discovered early. This saves a bunch on gift tags too!

My favorite tradition is relatively new to our family as we only began making it a yearly event about 10 years ago. With all of our children grown and most of the grandchildren old enough as well, we have moved from drawing names between the cousins for gift giving, to having a White Elephant gift exchange, also known as Dirty Santa or Yankee Swap. We play this gift giving game on Christmas afternoon between football games and/or food (lots and lots of food).

Each person in a White Elephant gift exchange brings a price limited, wrapped, unmarked gift that is placed in a pile. Everyone then draws a number and gifts are selected in that order, but with a twist. On the first turn, the person holding #1 selects a gift and opens it, showing it to everyone. The unwrapped gifts must remain visible to the group (in other words, no hiding!). The person with #2 then may choose a wrapped gift from the pile OR may “steal” #1's unwrapped gift. If #2 steals #1's gift, then #1 must choose and open another wrapped gift. The game progresses as players take their turns and they either select a new gift or take any already opened gift from any of the other players.

A gift can only be “stolen” once during a turn. If a gift is taken from someone during one round, that a person cannot take it back during that same round. They can, however, take it back in a later round if the opportunity arises. Once a gift has had three “owners,” the third owner of a gift gets to keep it and it can't be stolen again. After the last turn, the person (#1) who started can put the gift back and “steal” a gift according to the rules. This starts the gift exchange again (following the above rules) and ends when someone chooses or is forced to take the gift given up by the person with #1.

The White Elephant Gift exchange can be a ton of fun and tremendously entertaining. The more creative and desirable the gifts are, the more fun it can be.

Finally, on Christmas Eve don't forget to put out the snacks for Santa and his reindeer. Leave Santa a cookie or two and a glass of milk making sure to note (with the children) exactly how much milk is in the glass. Leave the reindeer some carrots or a spoonful of sugar. It is such a magical feeling as the children wake in the morning and are amazed to find just cookie crumbs (or a cookie with a bite out of it), a partial glass of milk and that the treats for the reindeers gone. Ah ha! Proof! Santa was in the house!