It’s not the toys, kids, it’s the traditions

            When I was young we didn’t have such rich Christmases.  Today children receive iPods, iPads and Nintendo DS’s in their stockings.  When I was young, if we were so fortunate to receive an electronic gift, we had to share it with the whole family. 

            Yes, that first computer my parents bought – it had to be shared by everyone.  That Nintendo Game Boy my grandparents gave to us – had to be shared by my brother and me!  Can you imagine having to share a Game Boy in today’s world?  Every child would be crying foul!

            Okay, so maybe Christmases haven’t changed that much since I was a kid.  I can’t claim to have had to ride in a sleigh to a Christmas service, like my dad did.  I can’t talk about receiving all but a handful of candy and maybe a home-made gift, like my 89-year-old grandmother can.  Even my wife has better Christmas stories.  When she was young, she didn’t have much either, but she remembers the traditions, and these are the most important things for kids, whether they admit to it or not.

            The best parts of Christmas for me were the extended family gatherings on both sides of the family.  The first family gathering was on Christmas Day, the other on Boxing Day.  It rarely changed. 

            There were many cousins on both sides of the family.  During our gatherings, the kids would run wild while the parents did other things (as a kid, what adults did was quite irrelevant).

            One thing I do remember, our games tended to be loud.  I remember one loud game in particular – I’ll call it couch monster.  This was a unique game where we would bury our eldest cousin under the pillows of my grandparents’ couch, then venture as close to him as we possibly dared before he would burst from beneath and try to catch us all.  We would repeat this over and over again throughout the afternoon.  It must have been music to our grandparents’ ears.

            The games would continue on the Froese side, where we would find different ways to torment our eldest cousin.  In this case, we were the monsters.  There seemed to be a pattern there. 

            As a child, it doesn’t take much to be entertained.  We had a lot, as far as gifts went, but what we enjoyed the most was the time together. 

            You can give kids all the toys in the world, but they will enjoy the family traditions the most.  When they look back, this is what they will cherish.

            That precludes of course the Christmas we got a snowmobile – hands down, thee best Christmas ever.