Slowing Christmas morning
When my husband and I were first married, we were not able to do much for Christmas gifts for each other and it was just the two of us so we became a bit inventive in order to make the fun morning last.
We blended some Dutch traditions (my husband’s land of birth) with some Anderson family traditions (my family) to slow down the morning and spend more time enjoying each individual unveiling. Here’s a bit of a list that you might enjoy.
First we open stockings one at a time. This works out especially well as it can give you the chance to “prank” one of your family. I remember one year when I was a child. We had thirteen stockings hung up, and everyone received Silly String except my mom, who was summarily attacked. Good times, Good times.
We then take a break and get snack-y morning food and coffee. We like Swedish coffee bread, clementines and turkey summer sausage (and mimosa). No forks needed, so opening presents is not an issue!
Then we open presents, ONE at a time, with ooohs and ahhs and “thank you” to the giver, of course. In every family, this is important.
We also extend the morning by creating clues or riddles as a method of giving. I’ve listed some creative ideas below. The cool part of this is we invest more time in HOW we will be giving the gifts, and the giving itself becomes more important. It also slows down our morning, and removes that mad scramble and feeling of “More, More, More”.
- Make all the gifts into a crossword puzzle and provide clues – when the full puzzle is solved, then give the most important gift.
- Sing a song for each gift.
- Find a photo or two to match up as a clue for the gift. So for socks, the clue could be a photo of a sheep and a foot. I did this one year and then all the photos fit into a puzzle that was a weird story-telling collage.
- Make up poems.
- Wrap all the packages in layers into one BIG present. I did this one year – thirteen layers, but one box under the tree.
- One year I got little clear plastic boxes hung all over the tree, each with a scroll with a clue. The first gift I opened was a hammer.
- When my son was young, we did clues and a scavenger hunt…
- How about using scrabble tiles – give an envelope with the letters spelling the gift, to unscramble.
We also have chosen, over the last few years, to make at least one gift for each other. The first year, we combined efforts. My son and I baked my husband a cheesecake, which was a HUGE hit. My son and husband built for me a fairy garden…anything handmade makes the season brighter.
Slow down Christmas morning. Just like slow foods, slow gifts bring joys many of us have forgotten. Enjoy each other and the intent behind the gift. Make it fun, and make it last all year.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year,
Jodi
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