Christmas Eve in our household often means going to church and singing carols. Christmas Eve is a busy time, as after we come home from carols then there is the usual settling down too wrap gifts for each other and for family before they arrive over Christmas.
When we were first married we always vowed we would wrap earlier and not get caught up in last minute preparations but somehow over the years it never happened.
After we have wrapped presents for family, to the sound of accompanying Christmas carols playing on the CD player, then Mick usually disappears to the bedroom or his study while I retreat to my study and wrap. In fact it became a tradition of sorts that we would wrap on Christmas Eve and then, and only then, they would be placed under the tree. A certain person in this household who shall remain nameless, has a tendency to want to shake and prod parcels that are put under the tree, so the less time they are around the better. This very act of prodding and poking has become a bit of a tradition in itself. It wouldn’t seem quite seem the same without that initial scurry to investigate. . Of course half the fun is in being stopped from investigating.
One of our other traditions is worrying about wrapping paper. Do we have enough? Every year I swear we must have enough unused paper from the previous year that I will not have to buy more. But then I see a particularly pretty paper or I think about the size of the gifts and worry I will not have enough paper and so I go and buy more. It seems that’s become rather a tradition too.
It’s funny in a marriage the things that start out just happening that then take on the role of Christmas traditions.
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