A heartfelt thanks to Sears Canada for sponsoring this holiday post.
When I was a kid, we’d lay out our Christmas stockings on the back of the living room couch because we didn’t have a fireplace. We’d put out milk and cookies for Santa (but never a carrot for the reindeer!). Then my parents would tuck us into bed where I lay trembling with anticipation, sure that I’d be lying there awake all night long.
Of course, I would fall asleep eventually only to spring out of bed at the crack of dawn. My siblings and I would rush into the living room to see what Santa brought and then go bounding down the hall into my parents room to wake them up too.
“Mommy! Daddy! Santa brought me a She-Ra doll. Can you believe it?!”
My parents would stagger out of bed, bleary-eyed, and put on the kettle for tea as we pored over the contents of our stockings.
Santa’s presents were never wrapped in our home. They were laid out in front of our stockings, the sheer number of them already making an impression on me from across the room. Santa’s magic must have been real because there was no way my parents could ever afford to buy so many toys.
Finally, we’d settle in and take turns opening the wrapped gifts under the tree. Those were from my parents, grandparents and assorted other relatives. Eventually we started to wrap gifts for one another, too.
When my husband was growing up, they’d hang their stockings on the second floor banister and then bring them right into his parents’ bed to open all together. Everyone got a stocking in his family, even his parents, while stockings were strictly for kids in my home.
Then his whole family would make their way downstairs where not only were the Santa gifts not wrapped, they were also taken out of their packaging and set up in elaborate displays.
As parents, we’ve taken a little from each of our family traditions. Stockings are hung from knobs on the dining room cabinet rather than the upstairs banister, but there is one for everybody—even us parents. The kids wake us before going down to see what Santa brought, and some of the presents are unwrapped and set up while others benefit from a bit of packaging (if you know what I mean, Rainbow Loom).
I know many people take pride in selecting special wrapping paper for Santa gifts. Still others don’t see any value in the Santa myth and make sure all presents are marked from Mom and Dad. And, of course, many other people don’t celebrate Christmas at all.
One tradition that’s emerged for our family is flipping through holiday catalogues like the Sears Wish Book to help each kid write their Santa letters. But I do need to sit down with them or they will circle nearly everything in the catalogue!
What favourite holiday tradition do you borrow from your own childhood?
Sears Canada has provided three $50 gift cards for me to give away on my blog. I’ll be drawing three random winners on Monday, December 8 at 11:59pm. Share your answer in the comments below and fill out the Rafflecopter form to enter. Canada only.
This post has been sponsored by Sears Canada, helping parents grant their children’s wishes year after year.
16 replies on “Holiday magic is passed down from one childhood to another so let’s try to do this right”
Leaving milk and cookies for Santa! It is so exciting to see a note from him saying thanks the next morning with a few crumbs on the plate.
Listening to Christmas carols by the fireplace with hot chocolate…
Not being Christian and all, I hate to miss out on the fun so we bake and make gingerbread houses every year. I only have one son, who is now 14, but we cram eight kids around my dining room table every December to overload our gingerbread houses with candy and see how much icing we can get on the carpet. (Did I say that). Every year we compare the pictures and see how much the kids have grown and how their decorating talents have improved (or not). I have been making gingerbread houses since I was 15, I hope to bake them til my last birthday.
No joke, my mother requests a Sears gift card every year, so you could say that is part of the tradition. Along with Santa presents in stockings.
We used to have our stockings hung on our doorknobs, and because my brother was the kind of kid who’d be up at the crack of dawn to check his stocking, we absolutely were NOT allowed to wake them up, we were to do it quietly in our own rooms – probably the reason there was always a magazine to keep us busy for a bit. The grownups didn’t get stockings until I was old enough to realise the truth about Santa, and then I started doing them for my parents.
We would all have a big breakfast in our jammies and open presents together before getting ready to go to my grandparents’ house.
At our house, we all have stockings. They do wake us up to look at what they got, and I’m trying to get out of cooking the big breakfast, for the same reason I don’t want to make my own birthday cake. But we do still go to my grandparents’ – well, my aunt’s now, but the same idea.
My favorite holiday tradition from my childhood that my kids now enjoy is gathering with our extended family on Christmas Eve to celebrate. The kids play with their cousins and second cousins and the adults visit and have a drink or two just like it was when I was a kid. We share a traditional Ukrainian meal (12 meatless dishes) and just enjoy each other’s company and get caught up.
It has to be playing outside – it’s so important for health and wellness and incredibly fun!
The Sears Wish Book arrived here in August and my kids immediately sat down and circled all the things they wanted for Christmas… in their shorts! That reminds me, I should probably go check out those selections! My sis and I used to do the same thing!
In my childhood my siblings and I would hang our stockings on the door knobs to our bedrooms. If we were still awake, we could hear “Santa” filling our stocking! I’ve carried this tradition to today and stockings are still hung on bedroom door knobs.
My favourite holiday tradition from my childhood is putting out milk and cookies for Santa.
We go Ice Skating on Christmas Eve!
Opening one present on Christmas eve night. I got to do it as a child and now my children do it.
Leaving cookies and milk for santa and a baby carrot for each reindeer!
Growing up we always got together with my aunts and uncles and cousins for Christmas. It was something I always looked forward to. We still get together now that I am an adult and I love it still. Now that I have kids and they have cousins I want to make sure that over the years that they spend the holidays with their aunts and uncles and cousins.
Stockings for all and most definitely WRAPPED presents under the tree!
My sister and I always received new books on Christmas Eve, which made the agony of waiting for sleep to come a little less terrible. And now my mom gives books to my kids to open on Christmas Eve. The best!