These days it is extremely difficult to refrain from getting caught up in the retail celebration that has become Christmas. This holiday has slowly but surely turned into an exchange of goods and services instead of a celebration of family and Jesus' birthday as it was intended to be.
I remember the days of my childhood when Christmas was the best time of the year, being so excited to see family and friends, eat good food, and wake up to a tree full of presents and gifts. My family was so close back then; I mean it was nothing to have 15 people over my Grandma's house for food, drinks, and to celebrate the joy of the season. I remember all of the adults sitting in the kitchen, drinking and telling stories while all of us kids would be playing in the living room, trying our best not to make too much noise so we would not have to go to bed. I was always the one to sneak into the kitchen and sit quietly so I could listen to all of the adults’ tales of the old days, stories of fights and great escapes, stories of the hard times and the harder times. I found out early that as long as I was quite and didn’t try to add to their conversation they would let me stay but as soon as I tried to put my two cents in or if I laughed too loudly at one of their jokes it was time for me to go.
Our family tradition was to send all children under the age of 16 to the room so Santa Clause could set out presents in peace. All of us kids would try whatever we could not to be sent to the room to go to sleep and the funny thing is that as soon as we lost that battle we would be fast asleep within minutes. At 12:01 the adults would come to the room and wake us all up so that we could find out what Santa had left for us, this would turn into a mini running of the bulls as we all would make a mad dash to living room to open up our gifts. Wrapping paper would fill the room as presents would be unwrapped so fast that you really didn’t even see what you got, you would just be looking for the next gift to open lol. Back in those days family was family and it didn’t matter if you were blood or not, if you were there you were family and everyone in the family got a gift. After all the presents were opened we would all make our way to the kitchen to enjoy the feast that was prepared. The adults would go back to drinking and telling stories as the kids would slowly doze off after all the excitement.
The next morning on Christmas Day everyone would wake up, the kids would grab their favorite toys and I would always try to put on my new clothes lol it wasn’t like I was going anywhere, I just wanted to look fresh. Breakfast would be served and all of us would eat until our stomachs were about to pop, a nap would usually follow and then family time would resume. I miss the way Christmas was, I miss the food , I miss the stories, I miss all of us kids being sent to the room together, I miss the gifts, but I think what I miss most of all is how close my family once was.
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