If I were to describe my family, we are anything but perfect – in a good way. We mess around with each other, bully one another, and above all else, have a ton of fun. The family dynamic we have is unique, and what comes with that is traditions. Most of the time, our traditions appear from a random event that we like and decide to do again every year – some are wonky and some are typical Christmas traditions.
A simple tradition, which I’m not sure even counts, is my siblings and I make a pact every year. We would present ourselves, shake hands, and come to the agreement to either not get each other presents OR one cheap present since we’re broke students.
One of my favorites that my dad and I came up with, roughly five years ago, was to go to Newbury Comics and get new ornaments that fit each person in our family. My dad would get something related to Star Wars or sports like the Red Sox or the Patriots. We’d get my stepsister ones that related to animals most of the time, my stepbrother ones related to Legos or history, and my stepmom ones related to food, like a squishy avocado. We repeat this every year, adding five new ornaments to the tree. We might run out of room on the tree very soon, though, unfortunately. Guess we’ll have to get another one!
Another one of my favorites has been occurring for around, possibly, eight years now. My stepmom’s family is from the south, Texas specifically, and would send large boxes full of wrapped presents. HOWEVER, their humor is top-tier because they would put the presents in boxes of food. For example, a new pack of crayons in a box that previously stored oatmeal. BUT IT GETS BETTER. You never knew if the present WAS the box of food, or was INSIDE the box of food, it was always a surprise opening a box of cake mix and seeing… just… cake mix. BUT THEN, THERE’S ANOTHER CATCH. Sometimes they’d wrap the present in the food box, and then put the food box in another box, and it ranges from two boxes to possibly 10. I love this little addition to opening presents because it makes it even more exciting and adds anticipation.
Lastly, a childhood tradition for my family was to visit the Yankee Candle Christmas Village in Massachusetts. Attending this experience was amazing when I was a kid because it appeared magical. There was a hallway where both sides were decorated with fake snow, miniature winter scenes like little people ice skating, and even snowing INSIDE! The little glowing lights, nice smells, and Christmas train made it all the more enjoyable too!