'Twas the Night Before Christmas

I want an official Red Ryder, carbine action, two-hundred shot range model air rifle! ~ A Christmas Story.

As a child Christmas Eve was always a magical time for me. I was always the most excited in my family. It has always been about the anticipation of the next morning; the snow on the ground, the presents under the tree, seeing everyone’s faces as they opened their gifts.

After the gifts were opened my father would take our orders for bacon and eggs and breakfast would be had.

I get teary eyed just thinking about those days.

Even as a teenager I was always the first one up on Christmas morning. I would egg my family to wake up and come and celebrate. And to this day I still get excited on Christmas Eve.

It was always a tradition in my family that on the night before Christmas we would each open the smallest gift for us that was under the tree. It was usually a simple toy or a pair of socks but it was magical being able to open a gift before Christmas morning.

[I am sure that the reason my parents did this was so that I wouldn’t combust from having to wait one more day.]

And now with James we still honour this tradition. But with us we open an ornament that we exchange each year. We have done this since 1994 when we first began dating.

It started with store bought ornaments and then after some years we started making the ornaments ourselves. And so each year when we decorate our tree we take out these ornaments and handle them as thought they were made of gold.

Some of them are things of beauty and some we laugh when we see them. These are the ones that didn’t turn out quite like we had imagined, and some are just outright embarrassing. But each one is unique and made with love in our hearts.

All of them will forever be cherished and will one day become family heirlooms.

And although we kept things simple this Christmas; namely by not putting up a tree, we will still give each other a small token of our love for one another tonight. And next year it will go up on our tree and mark another year of our journey together.

**I would love to hear some of your family traditions; either from when you were a child or ones that you have now.