You see, we haven't had to. Each year we go back to Kansas City to a beautifully decorated house, gorgeous tree, stacks of presents, piles of sweets and a full schedule of Christmas fun with family, and despite the fact that we're never "home" on Christmas morning, I can't imagine ever doing anything different.
The problem is...we really don't do much here in SC. Yes, we put up a tree and stockings, and most years garland in the kitchen (though it was dropped this year after it sat in boxes in the study for two weeks), but we haven't done a very good job of creating Christmas traditions for Charlie (and us) here at home to get in the Spirit -- which may be why Jason and I always feel like Christmas sneeks up on us and is over before it's started.
This year, though, we've made a concentrated effort to change, so 2012 is the official launch of SC Christmas traditions -- despite the fact that the three of us were only together in Summerville for a sum total of 13 days in December.
Tradition 1: The Christmas Market at Marion Square (Jason and I used to wander the square pre-Charlie, but it fell by the wayside. We had a wonderful time with him this year from our special donut breakfast to buying presents for the dogs, sharing crepes on the square and of course, sliding to our hearts' content.
Tradition 3: The James Island County Lights - You guessed it, we did this one our first year in SC, too, and haven't been back since -- but this time we stopped for the s'mores and carousel between loops (one trip around just wasn't enough) and hopefully next year we'll wise up and buy our train tickets early enough to get a ride!
Tradition 5: Presents Under the Tree! - Don't judge, but I'm a notorious slacker when it comes to this. Typically, I slap some paper on Charlie's gifts New Year's Eve in preparation for our family exchange on New Year's morning. Jason and I don't really do gifts for each other, so our tree is generally quite bare. I learned my lesson on this one yesterday, though. Charlie and I wrapped his present for Daddy yesterday afternoon, and when he'd found the perfect spot for it under the tree, he turned to me and said, "Mama! It's Christmas in our own house!" And truthfully, how do I expect him to understand the grace and mercy of the most precious gift, if he doesn't have the expectation and wonder of lesser gifts? I better get to wrapping...
No comments:
Post a Comment