Wanna Be a Steader!

Christmas Traditions at the Wolf House

See if this sounds familiar to you...

It's Christmas morning, the day we remember and celebrate our dear Saviour's birth.  The alarm blares out an hour before any of the roosters roosting in the stable with the holy Babe would have dared to crow.  You drag yourself out of bed and after starting the coffee-maker, setting out food to ready for all the different stops you will make today, you wake up each family member.  Are you greeted this important day with, "Merry Christmas, Dear!"?  Or, "Merry Christmas, Mommy!"?  Or do the noises emanating from your family sound more like something that a bear family roused too early from hibernation would sound like?  Makes you wonder if you should have skipped that beautiful candle-light Christmas Eve worship service last night.

But it doesn't stop there.  Once everyone is up and running, the kids dive down the stairs, rip open their presents, quick "thank you's" are passed around, and breakfast is eaten half-way between the kitchen and the car as we all pile in, stowing presents for extended family members and a collection of casserole dishes as we go.  And thus begins the long tour of various famliy members' homes.

This scenario became far too familiar at our house.  Each Christmas morning I would become depressed.  Not because of the rush, rush, of getting everyone dressed, fed and packages ready; but because I would remember my childhood Christmas memories.  We had plenty of time to open and enjoy our presents, play with our new toys, put things together, try on our new outfits...and laugh!

When our oldest was around five years old, my husband and I made the decision that we wanted our children to have their own Christmas memories at their own home!  Since then, our famliy gets up on Christmas Eve MORNING and we make our own memories.  We take our time and open our gifts; we ooo and ahhh and pass around our "thank you's" and hugs and kisses.  My husband and I can relax and sip our coffee and watch the girls enjoy their presents while carols play in the background to remind us of our greatst Gift:  Emmanuel, God with us.

Blessings from Ohio, Kim Wolf<><

Hi Kim

06:32, 2006-Dec-18 .. Posted by marthaskitchen

what a wonderful entry to read. I just love it. It is so true Christmas is not meant to be rushing around but time for you and your family to relax & be together. Also its great for us parents to crawl around the floor & get to help play with the toys.
Helen