I am not a religious person and never have been. For me Christmas is all about family, food, giving, kids, and chocolate peanut butter balls.
Christmas Morning Excitement
I am writing this at 3:30 in the morning on Christmas Day under a sky of stars and hearts projected by my daughter’s nightlight. I don’t understand why everyone isn’t awake. We did have a round of whispering and bathroom visits around 2am, but now everyone, but me is asleep again.
I have always been an early Christmas riser, a trait that I have inherited from my dad and his father. When I was a kid, my dad’s parents spent Christmas Eve and morning with us, a tradition that I believe began because my grandparents would show up early Christmas morning ready to go after an hour drive to our place. In an effort to control my early morning rising and excitement and give my parents the Christmas gift of sleeping past five am, Santa always placed my stocking and my brother’s stocking at the foot of our beds. That meant I could open my stocking presents, burn off some excitement, perhaps go back to sleep, but at a minimum burn off some time before I woke up my parents.
Family
After lunch on Christmas Day, my grandparents would head off to see my aunt and uncle and cousins, while we went to see my mum’s side of the family. The family gathering included my grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. It also included our non-blood family. After my grandparents come to Canada from England they were followed by their good friends and for 65 years our two families have gathered together on Christmas or Boxing Day. This gathering is one of the most important Christmas traditions for me.