Family traditions are important for the Christmastime season

By JOHN SMITHSON

As the Christmas holiday season reaches its climax on Sunday, most of us will take a deep breath and enjoy our family, friends and acquaintances for a needed holiday celebration. Many will attend a church service and celebrate the birth of Jesus. Those with different beliefs or religions will still find time to follow their traditions.

The Christmas season is a time for tradition. Growing up in the 20th century, things were a little slower, and seemingly less complicated. I remember the excitement of Christmas, the visit to Sears for a sit on Santa’s lap. I remember asking for a cowboy gun and holster, since many of the tv heroes of the day were in westerns. Roy Rogers and Hopalong Cassidy saved the world from rustlers and bad guys, saving ranches from thieves and crooks, and riding across the western plains or desert shooting backwards and forwards, somehow hitting their targets.

I grew into bikes and cars, games and a BB gun, and finally discovered the magic of an American Flyer train set, with a steam engine that chugged and blew out smoke, just like the ones I had seen when visiting West Virginia and encountering a long coal train led by that same engine. Or so it seemed.

My parents held an old tradition of putting up the Christmas tree on Christmas Eve, right after we kids had gone to bed, searching for those sugarplums in our dreams. Christmas morning we were treated to colored lights, glass ornaments and icicles flowing down the branches. Our presents were waiting for us and our joy of opening them was only slightly tarnished if we remembered something that our Sears Santa had forgotten.

One year we travelled to visit dad’s family and magically Santa found us. After marriage and we began our own family, the tradition of visiting grandma became one our kids thoroughly enjoyed. They got to receive more presents, eat lots of uncle John’s cookies, and for the kids sleeping next door with John and Joan, the freedom to raid his soft drink refrigerator in the back room, something not found at home.

More importantly, the kids got the chance to laugh at grandma’s silly jokes, eat her wonderful food and sing Christmas songs while she played her piano.

Since those days are behind us, our grandchildren now have their own traditions. They pick out their tree, shop for each other, help make cookies and also make out their list for Santa. They still watch the Christmas tv specials, although the Grinch and other characters have replaced some of the old favorites of my childhood. They still put up their stockings, go to church on Christmas Eve and usually wake up far too early to suit their parents, just as we did many years ago.

Christmas in North Myrtle Beach is usually warm, so it means going outside early to try out the new bike, or watch the drone crash, follow the electric race car down the street, or try out a new computer game in the comfort of the house.

Kids sing “White Christmas “ sometimes, but this area has experienced only one white Christmas that I experienced, and that was 1989, the same year as Hurricane Hugo. Snow hit the area on December 22nd, ending on Christmas Eve. Snow depths along the beach were over one foot, and travel was almost impossible. The city’s motor grader was the only snow plow available, and was able to clear only one lane on Highway 17 and other major streets. The snow was still there through Christmas Day.

It was, however, the first white Christmas for me in my lifetime, and for our children old enough to store that memory away.

As you and your family prepare over these last few days before Christmas, take the time to remember old family traditions, or make some of your own. Employ a Christmas elf, bake and decorate cookies, get those letters off to Santa. Wear matching pajamas, build a gingerbread house, watch a Christmas movie, get that family photo, buy secret Santa gifts, donate toys to needy children, send a Christmas card or email, visit grandparents, hang stockings and track Santa’s route this Saturday night. You might even want to dream of a white Christmas.

When you wake up on Christmas morning, make “monkey bread” or cinnamon rolls. Later, have a wonderful dinner and maybe watch some NBA or football. Don’t forget to thank God for this Christmas and every day. Hope everything fits.

Merry Christmas!