The Holidays
By Clarissa Enos Plagmann
As a young single adult, I never worried about where I would be spending the holidays. Every year I would somehow come up with the money to fly back home to Las Vegas and I'd spend a couple weeks to a month with my family just enjoying being with them again. It was a tradition of mine. I never thought about or wondered what it would be like once I was married. I guess I always assumed I would find my way back home again. Or that I would spend alternating holidays with my husband's family and my family, and then we'd do our own thing once we had children.
Growing up, and in later years, Christmas and Thanksgiving was family time. It was a time to enjoy sitting around the table and playing board games like "Clue" and card games like "Apples to Apples," "Uno," and "Phase 10." It was the best way to relax in between grueling semesters of college.
My family would always do an advent calendar and the days leading up to Christmas I would try calling when they were doing the advent calendar and participate on the phone. Then, when I arrived, I'd help my mom with any last minute shopping, and I'd wrap the presents I'd spent months picking out for my siblings and parents and we'd put them under the tree Christmas Eve. Every year since I was eight years old, I would help my mom fill the stockings after all the children were in bed asleep. It was our special time. As my siblings grew up, they'd join us, until finally everyone who wanted to would be filling the stockings before bed Christmas Eve (and let me tell you, it got complicated as we developed allergies). And finally, my mom would always read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" to us on Christmas Eve, and we would read about Christ's birth before going to bed.
Christmas truly is a magical time. It's my favorite time of the year. A time for family. I look forward to making and following these traditions with my own family. Of course, I loved spending time with my family, but I want to create these kinds of traditions for my own kids. I want Preston and I to be the ones behind the Christmas Magic.
I remember reading an article (I can't remember where now) that stated that a newly married couple should spend at least the first Christmas on their own creating their own memories and traditions. And, I wholeheartedly support that, even though we didn't end up doing it last year. I think it's fine to spend a weekend with the extended family around Christmas, or to plan on going over for Christmas Eve dinner and exchange presents then. But, when I married Preston, we made our own family, and our parents and siblings became our extended families. And although I am sure there are plenty of wonderful traditions that include extended families, the best ones (in my experience) are the ones with your immediate family. The people you live with. Creating traditions as a newly married couple sets the foundation of the family.
This will be my second Christmas with my husband, and I look forward to spending it alone with him, knowing that next year we will have a baby to share our traditions with, and this is our last year alone as a couple for the next twenty or thirty years. I'm looking forward to enjoying this special time with him and creating memories and traditions of our own.
What are some of your favorite traditions? I can't wait to hear!
Merry Christmas!
Growing up, and in later years, Christmas and Thanksgiving was family time. It was a time to enjoy sitting around the table and playing board games like "Clue" and card games like "Apples to Apples," "Uno," and "Phase 10." It was the best way to relax in between grueling semesters of college.
My family would always do an advent calendar and the days leading up to Christmas I would try calling when they were doing the advent calendar and participate on the phone. Then, when I arrived, I'd help my mom with any last minute shopping, and I'd wrap the presents I'd spent months picking out for my siblings and parents and we'd put them under the tree Christmas Eve. Every year since I was eight years old, I would help my mom fill the stockings after all the children were in bed asleep. It was our special time. As my siblings grew up, they'd join us, until finally everyone who wanted to would be filling the stockings before bed Christmas Eve (and let me tell you, it got complicated as we developed allergies). And finally, my mom would always read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" to us on Christmas Eve, and we would read about Christ's birth before going to bed.
Christmas truly is a magical time. It's my favorite time of the year. A time for family. I look forward to making and following these traditions with my own family. Of course, I loved spending time with my family, but I want to create these kinds of traditions for my own kids. I want Preston and I to be the ones behind the Christmas Magic.
I remember reading an article (I can't remember where now) that stated that a newly married couple should spend at least the first Christmas on their own creating their own memories and traditions. And, I wholeheartedly support that, even though we didn't end up doing it last year. I think it's fine to spend a weekend with the extended family around Christmas, or to plan on going over for Christmas Eve dinner and exchange presents then. But, when I married Preston, we made our own family, and our parents and siblings became our extended families. And although I am sure there are plenty of wonderful traditions that include extended families, the best ones (in my experience) are the ones with your immediate family. The people you live with. Creating traditions as a newly married couple sets the foundation of the family.
What are some of your favorite traditions? I can't wait to hear!
Merry Christmas!
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