Simple Pleasures

We had these little rituals, traditions, as I was growing up. Christmas was a big one. There was of course, the Sears Wish Book - I wrote a rant about that - which was a clear sign Christmas was on its way. But there was also the school Christmas concert, which we all had to attend, and perform in if applicable.

Setting up the tree was a tradition. We were poor, and lived on the prairies (not a lot of trees), but someone had given us a second-hand artificial tree, and come late November, out it would come, bedraggled and beautiful. We had ornaments carefully saved year after year, surviving many moves. There was always worry that something may have broken, and so the unwrapping of the ornaments was always a family event. We had glass ornaments, remember them? Oh and an interracial Santa. He was pink and jolly, full beard, but when you lifted his shirt, he was BLACK underneath!! LMAO!! He was my favourite decoration. We kept that tree for many years past when we needed too. In fact, my parents used it until the last Christmas we all got together. It was a special tree, filled with love and memories, if not a great beauty.

Wrapping presents was always a blast, desperately trying to conceal what the gifts were. That was always fun. I had tape issues when I was little, enjoying the look of the transparent tape so much I would over do it just a wee bit (read that as me trying to use one roll of tape per gift *L*).

Christmas morning we would all congregate in the living room. Everyone had their 'spot', mine was as close to the tree and the lights as I could get. I love Christmas trees, much and all as I have denied that over the recent past. Once we all got settled - my sisters were ALWAYS the damn last ones up - the handing out of presents began. We did not have a lot of gifts, although it might have appeared so to the untrained eye. Little bags of Christmas candy were wrapped, Christmas oranges, pairs of socks, you name it. If we could have wrapped the turkey, we would have. We wrapped presents in old weekend comic pages, whatever we could find. Mom always saved and re-used wrapping paper, another tradition that still continues. So, we could usually find enough wrapping paper, of sorts. Sometimes gifts would be wrapped in two or three types of paper. It did not matter. What mattered was the sharing.

And opening presents!! Oooooh, we would open them one at a time, spending a long time at this activity. Teasing, laughter, ohhing and aahhhing over the smallest things, it all mattered. No one noticeed the lack of presents, for my parents taught us to revel in other people's gifts as well as our own. As we got older, and the bigger kids had money to buy presents, this activity became more cumbersome, worse when grandkids appeared on the scene. It didn't matter. We opened presents one at a time.

Between opening presents and the noon meal, the seven kids
would trudge outside and play football. It did not matter what the weather was like, outside we went. I remember The Blizzard Bowl of '76, the year I was in grade four. That was the year my oldest sister Ruth outran Dave into a snowbank up to her hips for a TD .... then could not get out *L*.

Then there was the meal. It seemed we always broke up into
teams of sorts. Those who helped with the final meal preparations, those who saw about setting, serving and clearing, and those who cleaned up the destruction afterwards. Guess which job NO ONE wanted *L*. I think my favourite memory surrounding this stage was the Christmas that the adopted kids - me, Sam, and Dave - kicked everyone out of the kitchen, even my MOM :oO, and we did the final meal prep. Sam and Dave both went to WCC (Western Christian College) where singing was a huge part of classes, so they knew how to harmonize. I would start a song, and they would blend in. My mom used to talk about that so fondly, for the joy that emanated from the kitchen that day was something incredible. We were young adults then, and happy in each other's presence.

The afternoon was reserved for resting, relaxing, and the occasional board or card game. Music would be playing, and while Mom and Dad recuperated, the seven of us spent time rehashing our collective pasts. It was wonderful.

I have my own traditions with my children - had, really, since we seem to have lost something in recent years. Setting up the tree, giggling over the old ornaments the kids made when they were little, opening gifts one at a time, disguising and hiding presents. The year I scraped together enough money to buy them a Sega Genesis, I hid it in the basement of the house we lived in. Then I stuck an envelope in the tree for them. After all the gifts were opened, and I could see the kids trying not to be too disappointed over the lack of a game system, I said I thought they had overlooked a gift. I had to direct them back to the tree, then laughed with pure delight as they followed clues that took them all over the house on a Christmas Scavenger Hunt.

I think the most important thing I taught the kids was that Christmas is more than a day, it is a feeling in our hearts. As the big kids had gotten older when I was growing up, they were not always able to come home on the 25th, so we had Early Christmas or Late Christmas, depending. After I was married and living in the USA, we continued that tradition. We would go home for Christmas - the kids and I did anyway - but I would put on a Christmas meal for the single men on my ex-husband's fire team. Usually it was on the 23rd, and I would cook a turkey with all the fixins, and have gifts for them all. Never anything big - we were not well paid - but something small that meant something to each of them. They loved it, and so did the kids. A couple of years after my divorce, I started doing that with my
friends from university, inviting them over for an early Christmas and continuing the ritual.

I love Christmas, even though it is a sad time of year for me now. I miss all those traditions, and for several years did nothing much at all at Christmas. I bought a small tree yesterday, a four footer. I am about to decorate it. Heaven help us all *L*.