as the years fly by, I find myself appreciating traditions all the more. pandemics and politics have made the world feel hostile and unpredictable; my own expectations for keeping a tidy house and staying in good shape are often torpedoed by the reality of life with four young kids; inflation and our day-to-day expenses (predominantly educating and caring for those four kids!) have shot up so that now, decades into our respective careers, our disposable income is less than it was when we first started working.
and yet, at Christmas time, all of those gripes and discontents fall by the wayside. I spend the day of Christmas Eve in the kitchen, playing vocal and instrumental CDs recorded years ago by my siblings to share with extended family in the days before Facebook, chopping vegetables and making Christmas cookies just as I did as a child. Christmas Eve dinner will always be clam chowder with rolls (as a kid, we always had Grands buttermilk biscuits; my kids now prefer crescent rolls). the girls always open a new ornament for the year to place on the tree, and they set out cookies, milk, and carrots for Santa and his reindeer. we go to mass mid-morning on Christmas Day rather than to a vigil mass (although I love vigil masses, and when our girls are all older, I think we will probably make the switch).
the older girls often ask me about these traditions in the weeks leading up to Christmas. "are we going to do ____ again? don't we always ___ ? will we still ___?" yes, yes, and yes. there is something soothing about knowing what to expect, and at eleven and eight, they feel in their bones that this is what our family does on Christmas.
I purposely don't make anything complicated; breakfast on Christmas morning is storebought danishes and cinnamon rolls, with bacon and sausage. even that tradition was threatened by grocery store shortages this year. I had placed delivery orders from three different stores during the few days leading up to Christmas, and each time, the respective shopper marked that the bacon and sausage were completely sold out (with pictures of the empty refrigerator cases to prove it). my friend Susan saved me on Christmas Eve by texting to ask if her daughter could come hang out at our house for an hour while she did some last minute Christmas shopping, and in turn she tracked down the elusive breakfast meats at the dollar store! lesson learned for next Christmas: stock up on breakfast essentials early. in previous years I've made a sausage strata that we ate in my family growing up. my kids don't eat much of it so I stopped making it a few years ago, but Nick asked about it this year, so it's back on the list for Christmas morning 2025!
this picture is from Christmas Eve 2022, but it's almost exactly what my counter looked like this year too
this is from a page in my 2024 planner -- lots of time spent in the kitchen! I made all of the cookies except the wreaths.
the girls spent an hour on Christmas Eve morning drawing pictures of Disney characters for their Aunt Becca's Christmas gift!
the traditional clam chowder. this is a photo from 2020 but it looks the same every year, which is exactly the point.
I sent the following video to my family in honor of the Geiger/Killian family clam chowder tradition, and also to commemorate Victoria saying the world's cutest "ho, ho, ho":
this year's ornaments were Dr. Seuss themed
Thing 1
Thing 2
I caught someone sneaking carrots off of the Santa plate. hilarious that she didn't go for the cookies! just look at her face -- it's like a guilty dog face. she definitely knew she was getting into mischief.
perhaps the biggest Christmas miracle of all occurred that evening, when Nick asked the older girls to help clean up the kitchen. this is not something we ask them to do on a regular basis, although I keep thinking that we should. much to our (quietly stifled) shock, they actually worked together without fighting and did all of the dishes, even the pots that required handwashing. (to note: we had them do this a few more times after Christmas break, and then once school started up again with their evening activities, they stopped. but it's on my radar to implement again as we enter the calmer spring season!)
after the babies went to bed, Nick headed off to choir warmup for the vigil and I eventually got the older girls down. I love the industrious quiet of Christmas Eve night, putting the finishing touches on presents, arranging everything beneath the tree, and setting the stage for Christmas morning magic.
12:11 AM. my work is done and I'll be headed to bed soon, while midnight mass is just getting started
growing up as the oldest of six, at age eleven or so I seamlessly transitioned from experiencing the magic to helping create the magic for my younger siblings. and I think I liked creating it even more than I liked experiencing it ... as the creator, you have all the fun of the anticipation plus the excitement of the day itself. the strangest Christmases of my life so far were the first few years of our marriage when I had no children to delight. Christmas is just different when it's all adults, and I'm treasuring these years now even if I don't get much sleep on Christmas Eve. (inevitably I still get more than Nick does, coming home from Christmas Eve vigil in the wee hours and then being woken up by his excited daughters!)
Christmas morning, the girls have to wait until both Nick and I are up, and usually until we have the coffee started. then they read Santa's note and open their stockings. we generally wait to start on the rest of the presents until after breakfast and mass, but every year this "tradition" is fodder for whining diatribes (apparently not all of our routines are soothing).
impatiently waiting in the upstairs hall. "is it time YET?!?!"
proof that Santa was here!
most of the gifts in Victoria's stocking were toys or books we already had laying around the house. #fourthchildproblems
Bluey fruit snacks!
my parents gave us similar "gift certificates" in our stockings to put towards a charitable donation. it's such a helpful way to reset the gift-grab headspace that so often prevails on Christmas morning!
we did end up letting the girls choose one gift to open before mass. the babies got this present that is more of a gift to me than to them -- a new set of megablocks, in a new storage tote with a built-in playmat! it is so great at keeping the mess contained.
Cecilia did indeed get the coveted pair of pointe shoes, with the caveat that she is not allowed to actually go up en pointe. they sure look cool when she is sitting down though! I feel strongly that whatever they request from Santa should appear under the tree, unless it's against family policy (which we already discuss multiple times that Santa won't bring them something -- like a phone -- unless parents agree). even if it's a gift that I am pretty sure will be played with once or twice and then never again, like these shoes, it's worth it for that Christmas Day magic.
Christmas Day mass this year was especially jubilant with the addition of strings to the choir. we sat next to a sweet woman and her college-aged daughter, and she kindly helped the little ones with their coats and with toys that they dropped (hurled) on the floor. after mass she said she misses these toddler days, and I know in the blink of an eye I will be missing them too. Victoria burst into cheers at the close of the recessional hymn and I think the whole congregation felt the same way -- the music was so phenomenal!
Joy to the World
Ding Dong Merrily On High
after mass, we came home and opened the rest of the presents. in our house (and in both my family and Nick's family), stockings are opened in a melee all together, while the actual gifts are opened one at a time and appropriately admired by all before moving on to the next gift. of course, the more people in the family, the longer this takes. according to my photo time stamps, the gift opening concluded around 3 p.m.
Greta's big gift was a vanity. God bless Nick, he spent a few hours Christmas evening assembling it even though I told her he probably would be too tired after all of the late nights and hard work creating his own Christmas magic with the music for multiple masses.
Elizabeth requested that Santa bring her a Minnie Mouse stuffie, and Santa delivered
a new loungewear set, new fuzzy socks, and a new heated blanket! she is the definition of hygge
no pictures of this, but I was extremely pleased with my gift to Nick: tickets to see Jerry Seinfeld when he comes to Pittsburgh on tour in April! to make it even better, two of our best friends are going to come with us so it will be an excellent double date. he was especially surprised because he hadn't even heard that Seinfeld was coming to town.
I put the show tickets in this card to give to Nick. he burst out laughing when he looked at the art and said John the Baptist's face (on the right) looks just like Greta. he's not wrong.
Nick got me a gift certificate to Stitch Fix, as per my request, and I have gotten several new dresses, two pairs of jeans, and a few shirts which I love! he also bought me a new coffee maker. our old one still worked just fine, but this is a definite step up. most importantly, it has a delay brew setting, which is phenomenal to set the night before in anticipation of an early morning. and in addition to the traditional carafe, it has a K-cup brewer. it's so nice to brew just a single cup sometimes, and as a truly unexpected bonus, I realized that I can "brew" plain water through the K-cup side to make an instant pot of tea with tea bags I already have. for some reason, the extra step of waiting for the electric kettle to boil was enough of a deterrent that I rarely made tea. now, tea has become a regular late afternoon treat!
Cece sporting her new hair chalk, her dolphin tracking bracelet, and her hot chocolate concoction
Christmas dinner
I was quite pleased with myself for making this caprese candy cane
Cece made this sign for her bedroom using her new hieroglyphic book, which is definitely not linguistically accurate -- the book sets forth one symbol per each letter of the alphabet -- but who cares. I feel like an obsession with ancient Egypt and hieroglyphics is such a classic 2nd/3rd grade milestone. (P.S. it "means" Merry Christmas!)
over the following days, we opened the boxes of gifts from extended family members. as kids growing up, we referred to these as "foreign presents", which is just such a weird phrase, but somehow it stuck.
Elizabeth loves playing the "cherry game"! (also, that is an emotional support bandaid she requested after bumping her head. no skin was actually broken.)
Victoria signing "thank you" for her Minnie Mouse puzzle set
my mom got each of the kids her own personalized bag, with a few books inside. so cute!
another year of pool membership from Auntie Kris! she also sent these amazing, brightly colored, quick dry beach towels. not pictured but my mom also gave us the platinum deluxe super-de-dooper membership to our local science center/natural history museum so we can take up to 8 people at a time. memberships are such an appreciated gift that keeps on giving for the rest of the year.
Mom gave me this glassybaby candle, themed O Holy Night. it's so beautiful and calming.
shockingly, I didn't take any pictures of our Christmas gathering with Nick's side of the family except for the babies playing with Victoria's new baby dolls, but it was a lovely afternoon and evening.
babies with binkies with babies with binkies
finally, for no one's benefit but my own, I am listing reminders for next Christmas (both things that went well this year, and things I want to change for next year):
book pictures with Santa at Robinson Mall well in advance and do not pay for the photo prints as part of the package -- digital download only!
purchase photo prints and Christmas card at Walgreens (same day)
make a charcuterie board for Christmas Eve in addition to clam chowder
buy Christmas paper plates to use for Christmas breakfast/snacks
make sausage strata for Christmas morning
buy bacon and sausage links in advance for Christmas morning
for New Year's Day: make instant pot pork roast with sauerkraut
Your turn: Any special memories from Christmas 2024? Do you have traditional foods you eat for Christmas Eve or Christmas Day?
Wow - this is so festive and warm and cozy. I feel like I was there. Memberships are gifts that keep on giving. Hooray for that. Great pictures and videos. Wonderful memories. I love the binkies with binkies pose, the girls loading the dishwasher, and Elizabeth's book bag is so so cute. Oh and the waiting at the top of the stairs pic is so relatable.
I didn't grow up with a tradition as far as food on Christmas morning, but I started one when Lad was a year or two and I've made the same big breakfast every Christmas morning ever since. I make apple puff pancakes and an egg casserole. Plus I always have pumpkin bread. I rarely make Apple Puff any other time of the year, and the kids obsess over it.
it's about time for a good old airing of the grievances. while we have ever so much for which to give thanks, sometimes we need the catharsis of enumerating our woes, big and small. (you can read the 2023 edition here.) _________________________________________ first up, potty training. I buckled down and trained Greta and Cecilia both around age 2 1/2, and it went fairly well (I'm a big fan of waiting until the kid is practically ready to train themselves). Elizabeth turned 2 1/2 near the end of the school year, and logically it seemed like a great time to buckle down -- we wouldn't be driving around to after school sports and activities and we'd have more time at home. I kept waiting for the day when I'd wake up full of excitement and motivation to strip off the diaper and chase a naked toddler around the house. and ... shockingly ... that day never came. then we were preparing for our trip to Seattle in July and it definitely didn't seem like the right time...
1) shredded chicken in the instant pot. the easiest meal prep ever -- perfectly cooked chicken that can be added to wraps, salads, or other recipes like enchiladas and casseroles! I follow the directions in this recipe , although I don't always add all the seasonings. and I generally cook 5 pounds of chicken breast at a time, so I increase the cook time from 10 minutes to 15, and allow natural pressure release. 2) journaling. Mom gave me my very first journal for Christmas the year I turned 6, and I filled several more volumes by the time I reached college. eventually I got out of the habit, partially as I was blogging more regularly and just in general with the advent of smartphones and the addition of four kids :) in a recent session, my therapist asked me if I had ever journaled and if I thought it would be helpful to do that on occasion. I laughed and said I'd give it a shot. the OG journal. the cover is slightly stuffed for a pleasing squishy texture written just a...
1) Color Run. the first annual Color Run for school took place on a Saturday morning in late August and it was so much fun! our school opened in Fall 2020, and I am continually amazed at how much the school community has grown since then. over the last year in particular, there have been an explosion of events for families outside of school (spearheaded by volunteers), and I just love how these programs foster a sense of common purpose and boost school spirit. the Color Run was sponsored by the school's cross-country team, and dovetailed with the Back-to-School Breakfast hosted by the parent volunteer group. Greta had no interest in running the 1-mile course (they had two courses designated, one that went up a hill and along a trail for a bit, and one that was flatter and suitable for strollers or walkers). so she volunteered to help as a color-sprayer! she was stationed at the beginning of the race, and then also was tasked with guarding the water balloons at the end of th...
Wow - this is so festive and warm and cozy. I feel like I was there. Memberships are gifts that keep on giving. Hooray for that. Great pictures and videos. Wonderful memories. I love the binkies with binkies pose, the girls loading the dishwasher, and Elizabeth's book bag is so so cute. Oh and the waiting at the top of the stairs pic is so relatable.
ReplyDeleteI didn't grow up with a tradition as far as food on Christmas morning, but I started one when Lad was a year or two and I've made the same big breakfast every Christmas morning ever since. I make apple puff pancakes and an egg casserole. Plus I always have pumpkin bread. I rarely make Apple Puff any other time of the year, and the kids obsess over it.