Twelve Dates of Christmas

I'm always looking for ways to create meaning in our holiday celebrations. I love to eat as much as anyone but for people who have great meals all the time, I don't think big family meals are necessarily the way to make our holidays special. My favorite Christmas traditions of my childhood include the obvious gathering of family but three things stand out most for me.

First, my Dad involved us all in decking our house out Griswald-style. He was a welder and had created all kinds of cool yule decor. He lit everything with spotlights, covered the house in lights, we had the plastic snowmen, and a nativity scene with a custom stable that was awesome. I loved playing with the plastic baby Jesus. We had a huge star that shared the rooftop with Santa and his reindeer. Somehow Dad mounted the sleigh where it looked like they were taking off to share toys with the rest of the world. We also had a HUGE cross beside our house. Since this was how I knew Christmas even before seeing Christmas Vacation, some of the humor was lost on me. I remember being upset that his family wouldn't help him and wondering why they wouldn't want to decorate. We loved watching the cars drive slowly around our block as they checked out our house. Our roofline is crazy steep and the lot behind the house is empty so Dad always made sure the back of the house lit up, too.

Second, I remember all five of us crammed in the car or truck and driving around looking at lights. Dad always made sure Christmas music was blaring and my brother was usually telling me to quit singing. Although, there were several songs that became sing-alongs.

Third, there was the children's Christmas program at church. Carolyn, our children's pastor, and all of her family were so amazing. It was always so much fun to participate. Of course, this always came with a new dress sewn by Mom who can make anything. So there were several days of fittings, rehearsals, and abuse for my family as they had to listen to me sing and rehearse lines prior to this.

Randy and I have a few traditions of our own. Over the next few weeks you might hear about a few of them. But this year we are starting a new one inspired by the Twelve Days of Christmas and by Lola. She and Randy have had a couple of Daddy-Lola dates to the movies over the past month or two. Soon after one of their dates, all three of us went to dinner and to the same cinema. She said, "This is where Daddy-Lola dates are. But this is a Daddy-Lola-Mommy date!" We got a kick out of it and whenever we drive by she always exclaims that we are passing our date place. Anyhow, when thinking of special ways to celebrate as a family I decided to create the Twelve Dates of Christmas in which we will find twelve special outings or activities to celebrate together as a family.

Tonight is our First Date of Christmas. We are having a light supper of summer sausage, crackers, cheeses, fruits and spreads. Then we are heading downtown to the Civic Center Music Hall to Merry POPs with the OKC Philharmonic. Afterwards, we'll try to catch the Sonic Santa in Bricktown and head back for hot chocolate with marshmallows and white chocolate dipped pretzels. I better go get dressed or I'm going to be late!