So many. Christmas is so important to me and my mother. The rest of my family loves Christmas as well, but it is particularly special to us. She has passed down her love of Christmas on to me, which she gained from her family. Every year I really miss my oma and opa who had such a special way of celebrating the holiday.
I'm not religious, but there are a lot of religious themes that invoke sentimental feelings in me. Namely the nativity. My grandparents had a spectacular nativity display. Ours is pretty great, too, though my aunt and uncle inherited the one from my grandparents. We always wait to put baby Jesus in the manger until Christmas morning haha.
Otherwise:
Christmas music! But not just any Christmas music. Very specific Christmas music. Specifically Boney M's Christmas (
Zion's Daughter is a particularly special one), Nana Mouskouri (
Old Toy Trains is basically my 'gonna start crying' sentimental song), and the
Transeamus . There's also an instrumental CD, but I can't remember the artist. And Elvis Presley lol. But that's mostly just for my mother.
My mom decks the SHIT out of the house for Christmas. Like it is completely unreal. Not outside; outside you'd think nobody cared about Christmas decorating. Inside, it's like Christmas threw up everywhere. Except it's all very nicely coordinated and beautiful. She even wraps all of the paintings up in wrapping paper. I do this to a lesser extent, but probably only due to a lack of space and funds. :' )
My brother, dad and I all wrap our gifts on the 23rd or 24th. My mom has no time for this nonsense and always does it well ahead of time. Perhaps we could do it early, but I think it's kind of a tradition for us. Or maybe just me.
My family and I celebrate both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Christmas Eve is basically Christmas for my mom's side of the family, and same with me. It's more important to me than Christmas Day. The main lights are dimmed and lit with Christmas lights and candles when everyone arrives, though my dad insists on turning on the house lights after that. Christmas Eve dinner is basically my favourite meal: garlic pork roast, green bean casserole, red cabbage, sauerkraut (delicious, delicious sauerkraut, with bacon, nothing like the regular sauerkraut you'd see), potato dumplings, and gravy. Though I am in the process of cutting meat out of my diet, so we'll see how this goes...
My brother and I always got to open one gift on Christmas eve. Sometimes we still do this. It depends on how my mom feels haha. Christmas baking is specific at my house: lemon squares (my brother's favourite), poppy seed buns (my favourite), and German gingerbread. If my mom feels like it, sometimes we'll have shortbread cookies.
Even though I am now an adult living on my own, I stay over at my parents' house on Christmas eve, because...
Christmas Day begins by the family all gathering in the living room. Everyone opens their stockings first, and every year we each get a mandarin orange, a chocolate orange, and marzipan (despite the fact that neither my mom nor I like it? but she still puts it in both of our stockings cuz 'tradition'?), along with random goodies. After that, one person (usually me or my mother lol) gets to be the 'elf' and hand everyone their gifts. Then we go around in a circle opening our gifts until they're all finished.
Also because I am now an adult (not that this is a particularly recent development), my mom has tried Really Hard to make Christmas Morning Momosas a thing.
After this we visit my grandmother, and then dinner is spent with my aunt (my dad's sister) and uncle where we have the traditional turkey dinner. My aunt always gets my brother and I a teddy bear and a set of pajamas haha, even at 26 and 28 years old. I look forward to it every year. Christmas baking consists of butter tarts (CANADIAN BEST), mince meat tarts (gross no thank you) and then some chocolates. Especially brandy beans. Brandy beans are gross. The only one who eats them is my dad.
SIGH I REALLY LOVE CHRISTMAS CAN YOU TELL
The past few years have been difficult for me, however, because my mental health has been poor. However, I am feeling pretty good this year. I hope I will finally feel as warm and happy as I used to this Christmas. That would be awesome.
