An Ortega Christmas Story

Family Search's question for December 9th was: Which of your childhood holiday traditions have you continued into adulthood?

Referring back to my previous post about traditions from my childhood, I'll share what my family does now.

First Christmas Teddy Bear - Both my brother and I have winter themed teddy bears that have our birth year on them. I have done the same for Benjamin and Luna. Benjamin has a 2013 teddy bear and Luna has a 2015 teddy bear. And it just hit me that I need to figure out if I get a 2017 teddy bear ahead of time for this new baby or wait until 2018. She'll be born this year, but most likely after Christmas, so her first Christmas won't be until next year. Hmmmm.... I have some thinking to do.

Count Down Calendar - Up until last year, my mom would wrap up candy for my family and put numbered stickers, 1-24, on the miniature presents; and that's how we would count down to Christmas. Last year my mom made a giant fabric candle just like hers to go in my home! So last year and this year I wrapped up the candy for my family and tied each present to the loops in the candle. We wait until after dinner, and I cut down the present, and on the odd numbered days Benjamin opens up the present and passes out the candy, and on the even numbered days it's Luna's turn. Next year, we'll do every three days to include baby girl, but 24 is divisible by 3 so it will still be even for all involved.

Christmas Trees - Last year I started letting Benjamin help decorate the tree, and this year Luna also got to help. I hung the really nice and breakable ornaments on the top, while the kids got to do the rest. They have no concept of evenly spacing, so the majority of the ornaments are hanging in one section, some branches of the tree having 2-3 ornaments on one branch. I didn't correct them, nor did I change it after they went to bed. My tree will only be uneven for a few years, and I want my kids to not ever feel discouraged from helping. In fact, since we put up the tree, the ornaments have moved around quite a bit because the kids like to play with them and hang them back up when they are done.

Santa - We are kind of playing the whole Santa thing by ear. We do Santa gifts, but I haven't told my kids that Santa visits on Christmas Eve while they are sleeping. Two of their favorite movies - The Nightmare Before Christmas and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer - have Santa in them, so they know who he is. But I think they just view him as a character associated with Christmas because Benjamin asked me if Santa is at Disneyland. He also asked if Santa was going to come to our house and I told him no, and he asked, "Is it because he lives too far away?" I said yes. As for the kind of gifts that are from Santa, they are small and inexpensive. This year our entire family is getting one Santa gift as opposed to individual gifts, but we each get our own stockings which my mom fills with candy, nuts, and fruit (we spend Christmas at my parents' house). Next year when Benjamin goes to kindergarten we'll have to figure out something more solid to tell him since he'll have classmates with a wide range of beliefs.

Presents - Gerson grew up with his dad and mom giving gifts individually. So Gerson got two gifts from them: one from dad and one from mom. I grew up with my parents giving together as "from mom and dad." Last year we got enough gifts that we did what his parents do, and Benjamin and Luna got a gift from each of us. This year, however, we bought the kids one gift each from both of us - ok, technically two if you count the Santa gift. I'm pretty involved with what extended family members give my kids. Mainly because Gerson's parents send us money to buy the gifts and wrap them since they live out of state. My mom and I work together on everyone's presents. My dad's side of the family does a gift exchange: aunts give to aunts, uncles to uncles, cousins to cousins. My dad is in charge of the assignments every year. When a cousin gets married, they "graduate" from the family gift exchange. Because of that, Benjamin and Luna don't have a gift to open at the Christmas party. So I decided that is when they would open their gifts from each other. Last year I just picked them out for them. But this year Gerson took Benjamin to pick out Luna's and I took Luna to pick out Benjamin's! We are still included in my mom's side of the family because they do it a bit differently. They do it by family. So this year my mom and her sister Deanna are exchanging, so one gift to each member of Deanna's family from all of us, and vice versa. Except since getting married and having kids I have always told my mom to tell her siblings to just do a family gift for the Ortegas instead of individual gifts. We still do individual gifts for Gerson's family; but with his sisters starting to get married and more grandkids are being born, I think it's time in the next year or so to suggest a gift exchange.

The Nativity - The Nativity is my favorite Christmas decoration. So far we have seven sets, one for

each year of marriage. My mom knows this, and she or my grandma are usually the ones to give me my latest set. Gerson says we are going to run out of room soon, but I say that we have plenty of room! Lol. Benjamin helped me set up each set this year and now he knows the names of all of those involved in the nativity. In fact, the story of the nativity was what Benjamin chose to do for his FHE lesson last week. I told the story while Benjamin held up the figures and placed them where they go.

Benjamin and Luna have really loved this Christmas season, and I'm looking forward to future Christmases with them.