Christmas Randomness

So Hubba-hubba is a certified grinch. I am not sure if it has to do with the fact that he is the fourth of five children or what.

He was beyond ignored for almost his whole life, so that's gotta be it.

One of the first years we were dating, I attempted to get him in the Christmas spirit by doing a "Twelve Days of Christmas." For the twelve days leading up to Christmas, I gave him different wacky presents. It sort of worked, but didn't particularly carry over to the next year.

Or the one after that...

The home that I grew up in did not have a chimney. We had a wall heater. So when I asked my parents how Santa managed to deliver our presents if we had no fireplace, I think I flummoxed them for a second. The best they could come up with was that Santa had a special key for all the houses that had no chimneys.

I was naive enough that I bought it.

Since we have been married, I don't think Hubba-hubba and I have exchanged gifts. We were trying to recover from our wedding costs the first one, and subsequent Christmases had Mr. Personality, so all our money (what little of it there was) went to other people and Mr. Personality.

But neither of us really mind.

My family used to always attend Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve. The Church put on the big nativity display, and I remember that it was always hot and crowded. Sometimes I miss the rituals of the Church.

But apparently not enough to go back.

Since my maternal grandmother passed away, we have always had a "German" Christmas Eve, replete with spaetzle, German meat and bread, German potato salad and all that good stuff. We do it to celebrate here memory because she always loved Christmas so much and tended to go a bit overboard.

She would be so proud of Mr. Personality and his love of bread and butter, he gets it directly from her.

And lastly, even though I am sure Hubba-hubba will not believe me, I am sad that we are not planning to see his side of the family this Christmas, for reasons too varied and complicated to explain right now. Even though Hubba-hubba's family and I have our issues, I still respect that they are his family. I deeply mourn the fact that Mr. Personality's paternal grandparents are not there for him, even though they insist they are.

Actions speak louder than words, says I.

Comments

chichimama said…
Families and traditions are so hard. My little sister married a grinch as well, and she just goes about doing her holiday thing without him. Which I always find a bit amusing since she wasn't baptized until she was 20 something, but she goes all out for Christmas.

The grandparent thing is also hard, as you know we're in that boat as well. Nothing much to do about it I've decided.

This year we are trying a "combined" holiday with M's parents and mine. It will be the 2nd time they've all been in the room together since we met. The other two times being our wedding and the kids baptisim. We'll see how it goes. My guess would be strained an not well, but who knows.
5:49 AM
Anvilcloud said…
No gifts? No fun! How about one with a price limit?
5:06 PM
Gina said…
Seriously AC, we get so many gifts from my family that we don't really need to buy each other things. We don't buy for Valentine's or b-days either. We prefer to get gifts for each other just because, not necessarily due to a holiday.

But that is a good suggestion, though!
10:52 PM
Liz said…
Haha, I had to tell my kids about that special key that Santa has as well. We didn't have a chimney in our first two houses.

My husband and I don't do gifts either, but we usually do a family gift, usually out of necessity. One year it was a new TV, another it was a used laptop so the kids wouldn't have to fight over the desk top.
9:30 AM
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