Tra-di-tion! (ala Fiddler on the Roof)

I am seconding Laurie's devotion to Christmas traditions, and agree that you do have to sing that word like Tevye. We have lots of traditions in our family which I have brought into my children's lives. I think the most official tradition that Zane brought to the table, so to speak, was the Italian cookies, Cuccidata, that his mom makes at Christmastime. In my eagerness to adopt them into our own family's traditional treat menu, along with the world's best fudge and Monopoly bars, I got as far as hearing the words "dates" and "Anise" as two of the ingredients and stopped there. No offense to Zane's sweet Italian Madre, but I now let her make them, seal them up in a plastic bag and send them to Zane to gorge himself on. (Remember, this is a guy who also loves Mincemeat Pie and black licorice) But I digress.

Our holiday traditions may or may not have roots in significant events, but we love them and faithfully carry them out just the same. I like to wonder when the first child in my family line received an orange in their stocking. I suppose that not too far back (Mom, your generation?) it was a special treat to have an orange in the dead of Winter, or, even further back, to have an orange at all? My kids know that Santa leaves an orange in the toe of their stocking, buried under peanuts (in shells) and then chocolate of one kind or another. They aren't impressed by the orange, neither do they rush to eat it up. The oranges simply get place into our fruit basket that perpetually has oranges in it anyway. In fact, some years Santa forgets to buy special oranges and just meanders into the kitchen to pluck one or two from the basket. But if those oranges weren't there on Christmas morning? My kids would spot it immediately.

And speaking of stockings, I am always appalled when I hear about the gifts that go into other children's stockings. I really have a difficult time seeing why the stocking has to be an extension of the Christmas tree. Oranges, peanuts, candy. That's it and that's all.

Another favorite tradition is to open one present from under the tree on Christmas Eve. When did this one get started, I wonder? We did it when I was growing up and my kids are all for it. It doesn't take the edge off of the Christmas mania at all, just the opposite, actually--it gives everyone a small taste of the glory to come in the morning and we are all pumped up on visions of presents when we try to go to bed. Also, on opening gifts, when Christmas morning finally does arrive, we spend a certain (undescribed, but fitting) amount of time admiring and checking out our gifts from Santa (unwrapped for the presentation Laurie described) before we open the under-the-tree gifts. If we're feeling an especially strong discipline in the desire to stretch out the magic as long as we can, we might even eat breakfast (egg and sausage casserole, of course) before we open. And we open presents one at a time--never a chaotic scene like in movies where everyone is tearing in all at once. We Allen/Jennings folk are nothing if not control freaks. We want to make sure EVERYONE ENJOYS EVERY SECOND OF THIS MORNING.

Zane and I have spent fourteen Christmases together now, and have developed some new traditions of our own. We make cinnamon rolls on Christmas eve, and read the story of the Baby Jesus from Luke 2 before heading off to a lame attempt at sleeping. We always spend one Saturday morning in December at the Farmer's Market, buying treats and a present or two. We always get our tree on a Saturday evening and take great pleasure in bundling up to go out looking. This thirty minutes that we spend on the lot, debating the merits of each tree and then finally choosing the perfect one, brings me more comfort and happiness than I ever thought possible. The bookend to this moment, is our other "new" tradition. This is when the kids and I decorate the tree the next day while Zane takes his Sunday nap on the couch. This has happened every single year that any of us can remember.

I guess if you do something long enough, whether or not it makes sense, it can be a tradition and be officially woven into the tapestry of your life. I sure hope my kids look back on our family Christmases together with the same fondness I do.