Ruminations of Christmas Traditions

I thought I would post a picture of Amanda's belly at 14 weeks, since she is noticing she is getting a little pouch now. She also swears she has been feeling the bean move around inside her a lot, which is normal because the baby is growing so much.

We are trying to initiate some new Christmas traditions so we can make them mainstays once the bean is here. Amanda has her family traditions, and I have mine. One of the things we used to do is go to midnight mass at Holy Cross. Another would have been my Nana Courtney's annual Christmas party; she had a strict policy on gift giving. As long as you were under the age of 13 (she had a katrillion grandkids) you received two gifts. One was your big present, and the other one . . .well . . .I'll get to it in a minute. If you were over 13, you got a 50 dollar check and your "second present." The "second present" was always my favorite, because, essentially, what she did was wrap up a bunch of random, unrelated stuff like doodle pads, chap stick, wool socks, crayons, glue, candy canes, lifesavers (the ones that came in those "Christmas book thingys," and lacy panties. Just kidding. About the glue.

One of Amanda's favorite family traditions is the annual reading by IT consultant George of "The Night Before Christmas." I dont know if this is more entertaining for George or the kids, but what he does is read the book--the WHOLE book. The publishing info, the ISBN scan code on the cover, the Library of Congress card catalog number, and the list of "other favorites you might enjoy" from the "Golden Press" library list. This usually takes about a good 30 minutes to read a 50 line poem. Good times. The other popular tradition (that I have seen) is how we eat a delicious Christmas dinner and then sport Jonathan goes and naps on the couch while everyone else pitches in and cleans up (wah wah wah . . .).

What are your Christmas traditions? Here is what Amanda and I are continuing/starting as traditions in the Goldsmith house:

* Cutting down our own Christmas tree from a farm in Albion, Maine. (Albion is so rural that they havent even finished plowing the snow from last winter)

* "Doing Hanukkah" (as Amanda calls it). We light the menorah and then go to our own special "wailing wall" and cry because we arent as rich as other Jews we know. Also, its a good way to honor the roots of "my people," as my father is Jewish, and I was brought up to revere, celebrate, and learn about the Jewish holidays. I will pass this on to the bean, who, sadly for him, will only be 25% Jewish at best. Oy vey . . . .

* Reading A CHRISTMAS CAROL out loud together. We start this on the first of the month, and read a chapter a night. This year is special because the bean can hear it, and all the baby-hippie-wanna be experts agree that you should read to your little person whilst they are in the womb. I do great voices, and, usually, Amanda falls asleep. What's extra special is, after finishing the book, watching the movie. One of the dirtiest lines in all black and white cinema exists in this film: When Bob Cratchit splurges and brings home a Christmas goose for dinner, the family sits around the table marveling at the delicious looking bird, and Tiny Tim says in his pre-pubescent voice: "I'd like to stroke it!"

* Watching Amanda's undisputed all time favorite movie A WHITE CHRISTMAS. Each night. Twice.

* Watching "Elf," "Lampoons Christmas Vacation," and "The Nativity Story." These are our favorite Christmas movies. Dont even say "what about Miracle on 30-crap street?" because that movie sucks.

*Making fun of all the ultra lame Hallmark inspired movies that attempt to create false ethos with all the old "emo" people who watch Christmas movies every night of the week. There MUST be some type of formula for naming these pieces of crap, since they all sound like "When Christmas came to Hollow Creek," "Tinsel of the Heart," or "The Smoky Glen miracle." All these lonely people live in the woods in a cabin when all of the sudden some outsider comes into their lives, heals their years of sexual, emotional, and spiritual abuse . . .blah blah blah . . . .

*Elf punting

*Decorating. Amanda is amazing at this. Our decorations are a mixture of the old and new. We love the artist Jim Shore, who has a line of handcarved and handpainted statues called the "Heartwood Creek" line. Maybe when the bean is older, we'll give them to him/her so they can decorate their dorm room at Annapolis. Where daddy couldnt go. Cuz he had cancer.

*Drinking every beer that has "holiday," "seasonal," "winter," or "Christmas" in the title. Well, I do this, and Amanda drives me to burger king after . . . .