You Don't Celebrate Christmas?!

You know you have a large family when...

...your children feel sorry for families with only six or seven children.
...people ask if you're competing with the Duggars.
...even your friends aren't sure how many children you have.
...your family no longer fits in a 15 passenger van.
..complete strangers feel welcome to comment on your fertility and contraceptive methods.
...two of your daughters go for a walk...and get asked by a neighbor if they're foster kids.
...you have to carry three health insurance cards in your wallet- because that's how many it takes to fit everyone's name.
...you take the wrong child to the dentist...simply because your handwriting on the calendar was messy and both started with a "j".
...grocery shopping for 30 children and 12 adults for a two day camp constitutes a "small" shopping trip for you.
You find yourself relating some small incident to your husband and starting with the words, "Well, I only boiled twenty-six eggs for breakfast..."
...you buy a 40 pound box of bananas intending to make banana bread and freeze a bunch for smoothies...but your children eat them all first.
...you find an afternoon root canal relaxing.
...it takes you twenty-three minutes on the phone to schedule your children's dental appointments.
...you've given up on using your toaster entirely and make all of your toast under the broiler in you oven.
...you are seriously tempted by the stacking cribs you see at Goodwill for $19.99.
...you find yourself thinking, "Wow, the house is so quiet and peaceful with only nine children".
...you have enough children to constitute not one, but TWO large families.
...you have a laundry basket devoted entirely to lonely socks seeking their mate.
...when you got to buy your children those cool "spin toothbrushes" because you think they get their teeth so much cleaner...but the store doesn't carry enough styles/colors for your children to each have a different toothbrush.
...when you can't take all of your children to the doctor's office at the same time because the waiting room has only 10 seats.
...when you still have seven children that are required by law to sit in a carseat or booster seat.
...you call the doctor to get your children tetnus shots, and they tell you they don't have enough in the office and need to order more from the health department.
...you take up more than one entire pew in church.
...you take only half of your children to the library, and STILL get asked if they're all yours.
...you go to fill your children's flouride prescription at the phamacy and you clean them out of every pill they have...and it's still not enough.
...you spend sixty dollars on socks...and not everyone gets new socks.
...you go shopping at Costco and the cashier asks if you're having a soccer barbecue.

December 15, 2011

Apollo XIV (17 months)

"You don't celebrate Christmas?!" was the most common response we got when Chuck and I announced, early in our marriage, that we didn't plan to put up a Christmas tree or exchange gifts. It amazed us that by simply choosing not to participate in one tradition (tree with presents) the rest was disregarded. We did and do celebrate Christmas, it just doesn't involve a tree or presents.

A couple of readers asked if we don't put up a tree for "religious reasons". Wow, that's a loaded question. I suppose the answer is yes and no. Yes, because I don't think we'd celebrate Christmas if we weren't Christians, and no in the sense that we don't believe it is "wrong" or "sinful". We're not offended by anyone's tree or presents or belief in Santa.

It comes down to our basic philosophy on family and parenting. We didn't want our children overwhelmed with stuff. We wanted them to appreciate the small things in life. We didn't want our traditions to all revolve around getting stuff. We wanted to focus to be on Christ and his birth, not buying gifts. Or making gifts. As a result we've put a lot of thought (and effort) into making the entire month of December a celebration of Christ's birth, which culminates, on Christmas morning, with "stockings" for our children.

I put stockings in quotes because most years it is the children's rubber boots lined up. In them are small gifts...a orange, a candy cane and a few other small things. Nothing big, but enough to make the day special.

Someone asked if we had a Nativity scene...we have three. All set out for the children to play with through the month of December. Tilly blogged about it here. Two sharp readers found this post for me. I searched in vain for a post I know I made showing how we had the Nativity scenes out in baskets with books about Christmas, but I can't find that either.

Any other questions? I'll do my best to answer.

09:37 AM in Family Traditions | Permalink