Rosa's Rambles
Happy Holidays
Its Holiday time, our thoughts and ambitions focus toward giving and sharing and enjoying the gifts that this time of year brings, more than the latest eletronics or fashions, the coolest new music cd's, or those clever creative gifts imagination and whimsy can combine to bring. The gifts of life, love, laughter with friends and family. The greatest gift our faith humbles us to appreciate recieving.
In my home growing up we had a particular way of enjoying Christmas morning... Dad who was an early riser would roust us kids at the * come on as a kid especially teen years who gets up that early* 5 or 6 a.m. we'd all share donuts or pastries and OJ * dad had coffee* , I suspect now in my adult age this was to give him an edge.. caffiene to wake him up while us kids yawned and marveled at his energy?? Hmmm.... anyway.... we enjoyed pastries and OJ and then traditional gift opening.
Opening gifts in my home was always the same... someone usually picked by Dad.. passed out the gifts to various family members... then one at a time , often starting with the youngest..which I was so that worked out well, opened one gift...everyone else sat and watched. Dad would tell me later... this was to ensure we kids grew up with lessons of value for showing kindness. Seeing someone appreciate what youd done went a long way toward encouraging the desire to want to give more to others. Youngest to the oldest wed go around our small circle opening gifts.. some years were lean and it wasnt long till were done.. some were well blessed and it would be a hour before we were through... but all christmas's left me personally with the same feeling.. joy.. Joy for family, joy of giving and being given too .. just feeling happy for the joy of everything.
In later years we started to have the custom of writing a letter to family member and putting it in the tree. A heartfelt wish or telling to that individual on what they meant to our lives and giving thanks for Jesus and his gift he gave us all.
What traditions do you have in your holiday celebrations? Posing by the Christmas tree for photos? Specific food dish that is prepared just so ? A object or trinket set out in same spot year after year in comfort or tribute to someone special? Drop a comment down and share some of your traditions for the holidays :)
HAPPY HOLIDAYS! Thanks for reading :)
Todays Poem:
GASP! :
Who is that roly poly man
dressed in a suit of red
hes got a great big rosy nose
and white fluff surrounds his head
he totes a bag of red satin
laiden down with joys and treats
and boots as black as night
are attached to his feet
He's placing gifts under the tree
each one is brightly wrapped
and as he bends each time down
bells jingle on his cap
I am so excited and happy
to watch him do his task
there's much I'd like to know of him
but now's not the time to ask
I am crouched down in awe
here hidden on the stairs
silent and bewildered
at what I'm seeing there
He doesn't know I see him
and I am very glad
for I am just in awe to find
that SANTA's really DAD!!!
Merry Christmas!
In my home growing up we had a particular way of enjoying Christmas morning... Dad who was an early riser would roust us kids at the * come on as a kid especially teen years who gets up that early* 5 or 6 a.m. we'd all share donuts or pastries and OJ * dad had coffee* , I suspect now in my adult age this was to give him an edge.. caffiene to wake him up while us kids yawned and marveled at his energy?? Hmmm.... anyway.... we enjoyed pastries and OJ and then traditional gift opening.
Opening gifts in my home was always the same... someone usually picked by Dad.. passed out the gifts to various family members... then one at a time , often starting with the youngest..which I was so that worked out well, opened one gift...everyone else sat and watched. Dad would tell me later... this was to ensure we kids grew up with lessons of value for showing kindness. Seeing someone appreciate what youd done went a long way toward encouraging the desire to want to give more to others. Youngest to the oldest wed go around our small circle opening gifts.. some years were lean and it wasnt long till were done.. some were well blessed and it would be a hour before we were through... but all christmas's left me personally with the same feeling.. joy.. Joy for family, joy of giving and being given too .. just feeling happy for the joy of everything.
In later years we started to have the custom of writing a letter to family member and putting it in the tree. A heartfelt wish or telling to that individual on what they meant to our lives and giving thanks for Jesus and his gift he gave us all.
What traditions do you have in your holiday celebrations? Posing by the Christmas tree for photos? Specific food dish that is prepared just so ? A object or trinket set out in same spot year after year in comfort or tribute to someone special? Drop a comment down and share some of your traditions for the holidays :)
HAPPY HOLIDAYS! Thanks for reading :)
Todays Poem:
GASP! :
Who is that roly poly man
dressed in a suit of red
hes got a great big rosy nose
and white fluff surrounds his head
he totes a bag of red satin
laiden down with joys and treats
and boots as black as night
are attached to his feet
He's placing gifts under the tree
each one is brightly wrapped
and as he bends each time down
bells jingle on his cap
I am so excited and happy
to watch him do his task
there's much I'd like to know of him
but now's not the time to ask
I am crouched down in awe
here hidden on the stairs
silent and bewildered
at what I'm seeing there
He doesn't know I see him
and I am very glad
for I am just in awe to find
that SANTA's really DAD!!!
Merry Christmas!
posted by Rosa Rambles at
7:47 AM
2 Comments:
Happy Holidays to you all as well!
My family stopped doing the traditional thing probably 10 years ago, but as a kid I remember what we used to do. Gift-giving is more fun for the kids, anyway ;)
Christmas Eve night, after my sister and I had gone to bed, my folks would fill stockings for each of us with little treats. I'd always wake up about 5 or 6am (I was an early riser anyway), and would grab my stocking, because it was a way to open presents without waking the parents. They wanted to sleep in until probably 10am or so before doing the real gifts. My mother, I think, would wrap up the little things like the Lifesaver's storybook box, and some beef jerky, and other things like packets of gum and such. You never quite knew what you'd get in there!
Then, after everyone was awake, either my sister or I would be designated as the "gift hander outer" and pick a gift to give to someone else. We'd wait until they opened it and commented on it, saving the wrapping of course (my mom would always shout "Save the bows!"). Then it was on to the next gift. Once my nephew was born, he got probably 70% of the gifts under the tree (my sister and I were already in our late teens at that point), so we'd be saying stuff like "Here's another one for Eric" or "Why don't you give Jaycatt one, he hasn't had one in a while!"
Typically, a gift would have two parts to it, too, so we'd get my mom frantic accidentally choosing the one that should be opened first: "Hmm, I got accessories for a toy I don't own... I wonder why that is?" hehe
When all the gifts were opened and the wrappings dealt with, we'd take our hauls back to our bedrooms and play with what we had. We weren't allowed to call friends on Christmas day (since that was Family Time) but we could accept calls from them... Had to stay at home though, couldn't brag about a gift and run off to see friend's gifts!
Good times!
The Christmas "tradition" my brothers and sisters probably recall and re-tell most often is this:
We didn't see a whole lot of our stern old-world-style grandmother, but she would come and stay with us at Christmas time for several days, or a week. Way back when, all 7 of us (later, eight!) were packed into two bedrooms at one end of the house: 4 boys in one, 3 girls in the other. At Christmas time, Grandma would sleep on the fold-out in the tiny family room -- and guard the Christmas tree! Every year, at some too-early hour of Christmas morning, we'd literally creep down the hall, on hands and knees, to try to get to the tree and see what was there. And inevitably, Grandma would leap out of the family room and drive us back to bed! In later years, we older ones got smart and sent the youngest ones out as scouts. :-P
That's the way we remember it, anyhow!
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