A grown-up holiday…

Another Christmas has come and gone, but this one was different for me. Before we had children, Christmas for Marty and me was stressful because of our mothers. Both would use guilt and manipulation tactics. Someone always got hurt, and we were stuck in the middle. 

After we had our boys, it became “our” family’s holiday. It was important for our boys to put out cookies and milk for Santa and go to bed in their own home. They loved they were able to play with their gifts all day and not have to pack up and drive somewhere far.

We told our families they were all welcome to our home for Christmas, although we spent our Christmas’ as just the four of us.

We started our own traditions on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Our Christmas’ were a special time for us while the boys were growing up. 

We kept many of our traditions until this year, such as opening our gifts on Christmas morning. Then we enjoyed German pancakes that Marty made every year. We ate our dinners early on Christmas Eve and Day; I never deviated from their bedtime schedules.

This year we changed things up. Sam works overnight shifts in the ER and sleeps during the day. We decided for Christmas Eve dinner, we would start at 7:30 pm, giving Sam a chance to wake up before having a holiday meal.  We had a relaxing meal and didn’t finish until almost 9 pm.

After dinner, we opened our gifts. It was weird for me to put presents under the tree during the day even though the boy’s Santa days have been over for years. 

Christmas morning was low-key. We slept in and just hung out all day. Sam had to work at 4 pm, so only Noah, Marty, and I had Christmas dinner later that evening. 

This indeed was a grown-up Christmas for me, which was a welcome change. This is the way things are in our lives right now. Perhaps someday, more family members will be added to shake things up, but this is perfect in the meantime.