Mary Angel

(12/2019) Christmas has certainly changed for my family over the years. There have been some good, some bad, and some neutral changes. Life dictates that there will always be change, it is unavoidable. As your kids grow up Christmas naturally matures with them. I haven’t always been the most cooperative person when it comes to change and Christmas is no different.

Those of you who have read any of my past articles know that I adore traditions. That being said, adoring traditions and change do not go hand in hand. Traditions are built on things not changing from year to year, but more importantly staying almost exactly the same. That means that Christmas in our house always started as soon as the kids woke us (very early) and they ran out to the living room to see what Santa had brought them. I was the queen of the piles for each child needed to appear to be the same size. For my mom (Meme to the kids) spending the exact same amount on each child was imperative. As the kids got older, and entered their teenage years, they asked for much more expensive items that were not very big. This meant that the older kids’ piles would be much smaller than the younger two. This isn’t a big deal if you are only considering my obsession with tradition, but when you take into consideration that the younger two still believed in Santa it became a much bigger, harder to explain change in Christmas.

This brings me to the biggest change in Christmas over the years, and that is finding out about Santa Claus. Between one child accusing me of killing Santa when I told him and another one crying because she thought I would be mad that she found out the Santa transition wasn’t always the smoothest. When they would find out (either from us or by an outside source) it meant they could then "help" with Christmas. This was not only a change but the start of a new tradition. Anyone who knew could help hide Elf Elfington (our Elf on the Shelf), help wrap some of the gifts, and also play Santa Claus. Playing Santa Claus means that you have to find someone who wants or needs something special and give it to them. The catch is that they can never know it is from you and the tag must read "From: Santa". This is a change that has most definitely been a positive and fun change.

Shopping for the kids at Christmas has also changed. When they were little and their lists were filled with a plethora of toys (some of which didn’t even exist)I would head to Toys R Us at midnight before Black Friday and stand in line in the freezing cold with a hundred other die hard shopping parents and hope to get this years’ Tickle Me Elmo. Sometimes I would get it and sometimes they would be sold out before I made it in the building, but I always got a tone of things from their wish lists. Now that my youngest is 12 and none of the kids believe in Santa any more I no longer need to stand in the midnight line at Toys R Us, which is probably a good thing since they have closed their stores. Now my kids ask for video games, books, clothes, and the odd toy here and there. This change made me a little sad at first, after all this change means they aren’t kids anymore and are on their way to adulthood. For someone who isn’t great at change it is exceptionally hard to watch the kids grow up. Now that I am on my fourth almost teenager it is a lot easier. I just have to work a little harder to come up with some surprise gifts that aren’t on their lists.

Their excitement and anticipation have absolutely changes over the years. Let’s face facts, the anticipation of a small child waiting for Christmas to finally get here and then their excitement when they see their gift under the tree is a feeling that cannot be duplicated. There was Christmas mornings when I thought the little ones might burst from excitement. I also remember days leading up to Christmas when I never thought they would stop asking, "How many more days until Christmas?" As we get older and realities of life become more evident that amount of exuberance isn’t always easy to muster up. I remember the first time I went to Walt Disney World, my husband had earned a trip from work and it was just the two of us with no kids, and we were on a bus pulling up to the Magic Kingdom with the castle in sight when this little girl of about 3 started squealing and hyperventilating at the sight of it all. That is the same way my kids would act on Christmas morning when they were little. Don’t misunderstand me; my kids are excited and thankful for Christmas and all of their presents, but they are more mature and less carefree I guess. This is a little sad to me. However, I take comfort in the more mature conversations we have and the fact that they linger a little longer to spend time with us instead of racing off to play with their new toys.

The last thing that has changed for our family when it comes to Christmas is our girls’ weekend. When my boys were little, my mother-in-law and I would take them to the ocean to visit my mom and do our Christmas shopping over Black Friday Weekend. When the girls were both born the boys would stay home with their dad and Poppop and my mother-in-law and I would take the girls with us. Then my mom and dad moved in with us and so we started piling in the van (mom, mother-in-law, girls, and me) and finding different locations to spend the weekend and shop. Now that my mother-in-law has passed away mom and I still take the girls and go shopping but we do day trips instead of staying overnight. This is one of those changes that is neither bad or good, we just have fun and enjoy our time together (although the girls miss the hotel stay).

I hope, no matter how your holidays have changed over the years, that you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and enjoy the time with your loved ones. Merry Christmas!

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