Smith Family Christmas

            Every family has traditions and they differ within each family. My father is a Moore and my mother is a Smith. In my household growing up, we’ve always done Christmas on Christmas morning. You wake up at the crack of dawn on Christmas Day and run to the tree to see presents. With all your excitement, you run into your parents’ room and jump on their bed waking them up because Santa Claus came. They lug themselves up, follow adrenaline amped-up children to the living room where the tree sits. Sleep deprived parents make coffee because they stayed up late to put the presents under the tree so children will believe in Santa Claus.

            We did Christmas this way because it was how my dad grew up doing Christmas. Then there’s my mother’s side of the family. There is a lot of impatience in the Smith family about doing anything. So much so that they open all their presents Christmas Eve night and then they have nothing to do Christmas Day. Christmas Eve night holds so much more exciting in the Smith family than Christmas itself. All the family is there, there is all types of food, and every one opens their gifts. The next morning, everyone wakes up like well, what do we do now? I don’t know about other people, but in my family in every generation there’s that one wealthy person.

            In my parents’ generation, it’s my aunt Cassie. She spoiled her kids bad. They could afford fourteen gifts for Christmas Eve and another fourteen gifts for Christmas morning. However, Hounslows are not Smiths. Traditions vary based on families. People are different and personalities work together differently. When my family would go spend Christmas with our relatives, my brothers and I were pressured into opening our gifts Christmas Eve night. If we wanted to wait, twenty-something people would look at us and say “Well, we’re going to wait for you.”

            My mom’s family isn’t mean just impatient. They have all the common illnesses of being impatient. Road rage, fear of waiting in line, fear of leaving on time, fear of traveling, and fear of having to sit down and have a long conversation. A tradition in my mom’s family is to say “get to the point”. There was one holiday that several family members came to us for Christmas. They were not happy to have to wait until Christmas morning.

            Traditions change based on location and the people with you. Everyone has their own traditions. Some people don’t believe in Santa, some don’t give presents. In my family, it’s awesome to be seventeen years old and come downstairs on Christmas morning to wake up my grumpy parents. My favorite thing to remind my parents is that every Christmas that I’m home until I have my own children, I’m going to keep waking them up at six thirty-seven on Christmas morning. That’s my tradition.