Natalia Naman Temesgen: Traditions have a way of surprising you
We just celebrated our family’s first Christmas in our first house. I was intent on starting some lasting Temesgen family traditions for the occasion.
We decorated the tree the weekend after Thanksgiving. I hung stockings on the mantle and placed poinsettias on the hearth. After the melting candy wreath incident, I hung a fresh evergreen wreath in its place. Because Santa is still relatively foreign to our daughter, Pete and I put wrapped gifts under the tree as we bought them.
Come Christmas morning, my mother-in-law and daughter played with "old" toys while I cooked breakfast and Pete got the camera and music on. We opened stockings to the sounds of Frank Sinatra and the Harry Simeone Choir. Aria was content with her stocking stuffers, but we pulled her to the Christmas tree.
We all sat on the floor and dug in. One by one, Aria opened a gift, tried to run away with it, and was eventually brought back to open another. It was a joy to watch. Unlike many of my childhood Christmases with three younger siblings, this was a quiet morning. We moved slowly and admired each gift without rushing to the next. It felt as though we were creating a new Christmas tradition in which gifts were a bonus, but peacefully enjoying the morning together was the central focus.
After gifts were opened and we'd gotten to play together a bit, we went to my folks' house and celebrated there. It was just as I remembered: expressive, passionate, and, yes -- loud. This was the tradition our family had built. We were generous with our giving and very dramatic with our receiving. "You didn't! You did! You shouldn't have!" (Cue dance break.)
After dinner, my dad cued up an old Christmas home movie. I had just turned 2. My sister wasn't in the picture yet. It was just a very young, gorgeous mom and dad and their baby, who they still called Natalia (soon, I was always "Nat"). I was amazed at how much I acted like Aria and how '80s our tree was decorated. I also loved how sweet and affectionate my parents were with each other.
But what really struck me was how similar that 1988 Christmas was to the one I just had with my family that morning. I always remembered my family Christmases with a lot of activity, but in fact those early ones were quiet and relaxed.
In the movie, Christmas music played lightly through the radio. Everything moved so slowly. We had a small collection of gifts, but each was savored and appreciated. There was no jumping up and running around, just smiles, kisses, and sitting on the floor.It seemed the Christmas culture I thought Pete and I were creating was an old one made new again. We were putting our own spin on a beautiful, generational tradition: one that puts family at the center and perhaps one that, by necessity, grows in decibels as it grows in number of children.
Natalia Naman Temesgen is an independent correspondent. Contact her at nataliadian1@gmail.com or on Twitter@cafeaulazy.
This story was originally published December 27, 2014 at 6:23 PM with the headline "Natalia Naman Temesgen: Traditions have a way of surprising you."