“The Christmas Box” book giveaway

Every year my mother-in-law sends us a box of puffed wheat balls (like popcorn balls, but made with puffed wheat). She includes the presents in there too, but what my children look forward to the most is those puffed wheat balls that she must spend just hours & hours making. We live in WI, and they live in SE Utah, so we don’t see each other very often, but my children sure look forward to the puffed wheat balls that Grandma makes every year just for them.

Each year since I’ve lived here (1 mile away from my daughter and family), I take my three grandchildren out for breakfast on the first day of Christmas vacation and then out to finish up Christmas shopping. They love it. They may or may not purchase anything, but they like to wander around and talk about the things they find interesting. On the way home, whenever they’re ready, a stop at a Starbuck’s is a must. This is time just for the four of us, and I usually learn things about each one that I didn’t know before!

A Christmas tradition forming in my short 4 years of Grandmommy-dom is spending time with Arin & Nya (twins 2) and Michal Zoë (4) on at least 2 days the week before Christmas. There is a dual purpose (1) we spend time bonding during activities like arts & crafts, looking at Christmas videos, singing and ordering pizza; (2) it gives their parents uninterrupted time to do their pre-Christmas Day preparations and errands. Sometimes, like yesterday, I just go to their house and their mommy can be in and out taking care of business or on the phone undistracted; and their daddy in his home office totally focused on work tasks. Sometimes, like Christmas Eve this year, I plan to pick them up after I get off early and take them to my house or wherever; including a dinner so their mommy doesn’t have to cook. This also allows their parents to assemble toys etc. And I, too, am blessed with one-on-one time with my grandbabies; doing fun things, like reading, and dress up time, allowing them to dress me up. This is a win-win tradition and I thank God for the idea, health, and patience to carry it out and onward for and through the next generations. It’s about showing and perpetuating love; understanding that “love” is an action word.

My mom got used books at a thrift store for each of my children. They were classics and things they were interested in. They were in pretty good condition and they were all stacked up and tied with string. One stack for each child. I thought that was a fun idea and it didn’t cost an arm and a leg. The children like to read their grandma stories and read the inscriptions in the front covers. I’d like to continue this tradition with my grandchildren when I get a chance. I also loved making candy with my mom and bringing it to the family dinner with Grandma and Grandpa.

Our grandchildren live right here in the neighborhood, but this could easily be done from far away. Starting on December 12, they can open one present at my house. Every day until Christmas, one gift a day. They love it! I load up on toys from Dollar General, Dollar Store, etc. Yoyo’s and cardboard airplanes and little notebooks. And I wrap each little gift. I gather all year for this big event.

I also do this for 4 other children- but I deliver 4 bags of 12 gifts on December 12 or 13. So if you are an out of town grandparent, you could easily box up 12 little gifts for each grand and mail in early December, ready for the 12th.

The children have fun with something “new” in those exciting days before Christmas – and it’s great practice opening and being appreciative (their mommy helps with the “thrill” and “appreciation”).

Our grands are 5 and 6 years old, and this year has been perfect for this little tradition. They are young enough to enjoy and old enough to appreciate! I am sure they will be bored with this as they get older, but for the past 3 years, it has been great fun!

Our 3 grandchildren live with us. The day before Christmas Eve the girls and I spend the day making dozens upon dozens of Christmas cookies. We wind up covered in flour and sugar and love every minute of it. Christmas eve is very special in our house. Each child gets new pajamas so they look extra special on Christmas morning. Each one receives an ornament specified to their “likes” of that year. Some day they will have a very full tree. We make it “snack” night with all their favorite snacks from egg rolls to chicken. We read the Christmas story, we sprinkle reindeer feed for the reindeer outside, we leave cookies and milk for Santa. We play Christmas trivia. I wouldn’t miss a moment of it.

When I was a little girl my grandfather gave us pajamas and money for Christmas. The pajamas we opened on Christmas Eve, the money we got when we went to his house the next day. He always had a special way to give it to us … something we came to call “the stunt”. One year there was a money tree, one year a goose that layed golden eggs, one year a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow etc. I have taken this a little bit farther in that I write a special Christmas story for my grandchildren and incorporate the money giving into it somehow along with an Christmas ornament that goes with the story. They are always excited to see what Grandma’s “stunt” will be.

I started a new tradition this year. When I was a child, there was a department store called Ayres which had a fancy tea room and a train which led to Santa’s house. When the company was bought out, that vanished until a couple of years ago when the Indiana State Museum recreated a smaller version for the Christmas holidays. I took my 3 year old grandson, Tyler, last week and started what I hope will be a continuation of what my Grandma Edie did with me. Since Tyler loves trains, it was the perfect outing!

One of the traditions that came about out of desperation and sleep deprivation has now turned into a fond family joke that we love to recall each christmas season.
Our family opened presents on Christmas morning after Santa came. Our children, like all children on Christmas Eve, were too excited to sleep. They would wake us at 2.00 and 3:00 and 4:00, At which we finally relented and drug ourselves out of bed to open presents.
The next year we finally we established that 6 a.m. was the soonest that we were going to see that Santa had delivered.
One year after being up most or the night assembling Santa’s trains, bikes, doll houses etc. We could hardly face the idea of getting back up at 6 a.m.
We got the bright idea of setting all the clocks back a couple of hours. It Worked! We got a few more hours of sleep and shared secret smiles knowing we had pulled one over on the kids.
This worked well for a couple of years until we forgot that our daughter was now wearing a watch, and sure enough she caught us.
The following year the kids played the trick on us and turned the clock ahead 2 hours so here we were back at the beginning getting up at 4 a.m.
Sometimes you just can’t win.

Thanks for the wonderful stories everyone.

@Grammy Tanda – That was a pretty good trick we played. Now that our children our grown with their own families you’d think we could sleep late on Christmas morning. Wasn’t it ironic that this morning our married daughters and grandkids excitedly called us way too early with “Get up! Santa came, and he brought me…” So much for sleeping in! LOL

I wish I could write about some traditional Christmas things I do with my grandchildren, but I have none. Yes, that’s awful..they live in Maine, I live in Southern California. Sigh~ Where shall I start? First off, we lost our first grand daughter in September of 2003, due to her dying shortly before birth, reasons unknown. Then my daughter refused to talk with me for a very long time…till she had her next daughter and also another one…a son had just been born when she contacted me. To make a long story short…things have always been strained and I always feel like when I fly there to visit, I am walking on eggshells and only allowed so much input etc with the children,and very little time with them, and I have no idea why. It hurts ALL THE TIME. I am basically allowed to do practically nothing with them and have no one on one bonding time… and NO I am not a drug addict, criminal, or anything else that would warrant such treatment. I’m just a normal grammy …

Then August 2008 rolls around…my husband’s daughter’s baby girl was due in England, and I will never forget the expression and lost look in his eyes when I woke up to him crying and said with a blank stare, “Tilly’s dead.” I have to say, I can’t believe it happened twice in one family, both girls, both first babies to our daughters, both the same size and both full term, with nothing wrong in the autopsies. My heart sunk and it was if I was just living a very bad dream. I almost felt like I just really wasn’t there at all..and I was walking through a numb zone. It also brought back all the feelings of what happened with angel Kaitlin 5 years prior. The only real tradition I have thus far that I can write here is that every year I go to Kaitlin’s grave in NH and ask her if she wants to take a walk with grammy. (she’s the only grandchild I am ALLOWED to take a walk alone with) We walk all through the cemetary and look at the soldiers graves, long lost friends, and her great grandfather’s etc. We also say prayers for all the little angel children we run across. Then I take her back to her resting spot and tell her that I must tuck her back in and leave her with her angel mommies for now and that some day I will be with her forever. It’s all really very sad. But I feel very close to her..our birthdays are only days apart, and I have never had anything break my heart so completely. So, hopefully, anyone reading this can just be thankful that they have their grandchildren to do ANYTHING with. Sorry this is so depressing…California Grammy~

PS Ironically, I read the Christmas Box when it first came out so many years prior to our losses. I would love another copy..I gave mine to a friend after I read it.

We give new jammies for Christmas Eve. The adults get new ones as well so we will be comfy opening gifts and eating breakfast. We also make no bake cookies to share with family and friends. You can’t have Christmas without no bakes.

My husband and I give a tree ornament to each grandchild on their FIRST Christmas. It’s signed and dated for posterity! And every Christmas Eve all our family who is able joins us at our house for an hors d’oeuvres buffet, followed by gift opening for only the grandchildren, then family photos are taken. We’ve done this now for 15 years and currently have 16 grandchildren. It’s the highlight of our year for our family. They say it wouldn’t be Christmas without coming to our house.

On Christmas Eve, we go back in time to a simpler family gathering. We turn off everything electric, stoke the fire in the woodstove, and light candles everywhere. Everyone is invited to bring their favourite candle and candle holder, which they take home with them afterwards, If a member of the family has died during the year, we put out candles in a colour that reminds us of them. After a candlelit dinner, we bring out the guitars and percussion instruments, and amidst laughter and encouragement, we improvise our favourite Christmas carols. We have a special album of photos of this annual celebration, and we pass it around as we sit quietly enjoying the peaceful fellowship. Our tree is lit with some battery operated LED lights, (a bit of a cheat, but safer than candles on a tree), so we can see our decorations, all handmade or contributed by family members. It is the one time during the year when we slow our pace and appreciate, for a couple of hours at least, the magic of disconnecting from the grid and connecting with each other.

That clock-changing idea is the best and the funniest idea I have heard in a long time. Just passed that one on to our daughter-in-law. I imagine that this year in their house, the clocks will magically be changed Christmas eve! Love it! Thank you!