Christmas traditions are different in all families.  My family has some traditions that we always do with my dad’s side but completely different one that we do with my mom’s side.

On my mom’s side of the family we sometimes have soup, but other times we just get together and have finger foods and just have a fun time together. Some years we have gifts, and others we don’t but we never get together before or on Christmas with that side of the family; it is usually the weekend or two after Christmas with that side of the family. With my mom’s side it  is more relaxed than my dad’s side.

On my dad’s side we always get together on Christmas Eve and have something to eat– usually soup– but this past year it was tacos.  On Christmas day we all get back together at my aunt’s house and have a lunch. For the past few years this has been lasagna that my aunt has made.  Then we eat dessert and open presents. We always used to go from youngest to oldest, each one opening one present at a time so everyone gets to see what everyone else gets.  

A tradition that is changing slightly is who all gets together for Christmas.  This year on my dad’s side on Christmas Eve it was my grandparents, parents, all of my sisters, Ben (who is Jamie’s fiance), my cousin and her baby, and my second cousin and her boyfriend. Usually it is just my grandparents, parents, and my sisters. On my mom’s side of the family Marissa and I were not at the get together because we had our basketball party that day and our mom told us to go to that instead.  

On my mom’s side of the family we always get together after Christmas because of all the different Christmases that we have.  Everyone always wants to find a way to get together, but with everyone having a different schedule it is kind of hard for everyone to get together at once.  With everyone getting older we want to get together as much as possible now before everyone is off in their different places for college. To quote my crazy 73 year old  great grandmother, “You’re only as old as you think you are.” She has always said that, and I think it is because she doesn’t want to make herself realize how old she actually is.   

On Christmas Eve when my family was little we always opened one present and then went to bed.  Once we were asleep we would get some sort of stuffed animal, and my younger sisters always thought that it was magic.  Turns out that it was our parents getting us each something. Marissa always seemed to get a penguin, and Katie would get a monkey or koala and  I would usually get a rabbit or an elephant. By the time that we started doing animals Rachel and Jamie were both older, so they would get something, but it would not be a stuffed animal.  I think that this tradition started one year when we opened all of our presents early because we were going to go to Tennessee that year. My parents didn’t want to take all of our presents with us, but they wanted us to be able to open something that Christmas morning.  Marissa has always remembered that Christmas. She says, “It is because even when we were happy to just be with our family, our parents made it even more special by bringing a few presents with us.”

On my dad’s side of the family we are always told to give our grandparents a Christmas list by Thanksgiving.  They always spend fifty dollars on each one of us seven grandchildren.  One year they had just came back from Tennessee because part of my Grandmothers family lives down there, and they brought back a puppy along with our presents.  We had been begging our parents to let them bring one back for us, but they just kept saying no. Turns out they had already told my grandparents before they left to bring us back a puppy. We were so happy that our mom finally let us get one. That Christmas was so memorable because we got presents and a puppy.  Jamie says, “I will never forget that day because Sienna was so small that she fit into the littlest jewelry bags.” I think that everyone won’t ever forget that day because we thought that is was so cool, but we were worried that we were going to squish her.

At our house since we don’t have much time on either Christmas day or Christmas Eve we spend a little bit of time both days opening presents.  Usually my mom finishes wrapping them and then we unwrap them. We sometimes don’t even get to unwrap them because they are not even wrapped, but we are still thankful for everything that we get from everyone.  We all think that it is stupid to do, but my mom makes us wear the same colors and take a family picture every year because we are all going to want them someday.  

Gallery • 8 Photos

Sienna in her present bag