Christmas quandaries

One of the odd things about our missionary homes is that we end up with a total mish-mash of cultural backgrounds, generations, social backgrounds and opinions living under one same roof. They say variety is the spice of life, and one of the spiciest times is during traditional holidays because everyone has their own traditional way to celebrate. Now, the point of tradition is to repeat it, but how do you repeat everyone’s particular ritual all at the same time?
For example, in our home we face the following decisions. What do we do?
Christmas Eve:
- Open the presents at midnight, and then party like there is no tomorrow
- Open the presents at midnight, and then sing Christmas carols
- Go out singing and open the presents whenever
- Eat your Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve and open the presents on Christmas morning
- Never open presents on Christmas morning
- Kids open their presents Christmas morning, adults open them that evening
Christmas Dinner:
- Turkey
- Barbeque
- Mole and Pozole and Mexican goodies
- Prepare everyone’s favorite dish
- Forget Christmas cooking, eat sandwiches and relax
Christmas Gifts:
- Play secret santa and make sure nobody’s gifts cost less than 20 USD
- Do not play secret santa because it institutionalizes the giving of gifts
- Buy no gifts and save the money for vacations
- Stuff Christmas stockings instead of giving gifts
Christmas Decorations:
- Decorate everything together one evening
- Appoint a decorating committee to ensure all baubles are color-coded and matching
- Allow the kids to decorate the house
- Never allow the kids to decorate the house
… And on the list goes. The cool thing about being a missionary and traveling around is that you learn to adapt, and often invent new traditions! I can’t wait to see what we’ll end up doing this year.
December 9th, 2006 at 10:07 pm
hahaha! that is so true. I live in Japan, but it must be universal for us in the Family.
December 10th, 2006 at 7:00 am
lol! That’s great and so true. We faced the same list of decisions…….it was a very bonding moment for us as a home though.