In fact, in many ways, I think that Christmas Eve at our home is even more Christ-centered than is Christmas Day. With young children, no matter how hard you try, the miracle of Christ's birth that we all celebrate on Christmas Day can sometimes get overshadowed by the thrill of Santa and presents and treats. Perhaps that is one reason I really love Christmas Eve. And this year we added another Christmas Eve tradition that makes this day even more special and Christ centered. This year I finally got my way in initiating a family tradition that carries over from my high school years--being a Secret Santa.
During all of high school, and even into my early college years, my friends and I agreed to forfeit giving Christmas gifts to each other and instead put our money together to be a Secret Santa for a needy family. Some of my favorite memories from high school center around these Secret Santa shopping trips and subsequent secret delivery missions. For years I have wanted to start this tradition within my own little family; but we just didn't have the money during medical school or early residency to pull it off. This year; however, with the added bonus of moonlighting, we decided to make the plunge. Though the moonlighting only just pads our budget, it was important to me that we go ahead and start the tradition this year instead of waiting for next year when we will be on a full doctor's salary. In this way, the tradition would grow from true sacrifice. This is the way I wanted the tradition to begin. And I am so glad it did. It was a sacrifice for our family, but a blessing to be sure.
A blessing, and a character-building experience for my kids. Even though the kids usually exchange gifts with each other in our family gift exchange, I still felt like the character-building experiences of really giving had been missing from our Christmases past. It just isn't the same to give a gift when you are anticipating one in return. So, this year, in conjunction with our new tradition, we did away with the family gift exchange and instead put our money towards our Secret Santa gifts. The kids all saved and saved, as in years past, but this time the giving would only be one way. And even better, it would be anonymous. Although our children are quite young, and their financial contributions to the Secret Santa fund had to be subsidized by mom and dad , each one of them gave all they could and felt truly committed to the cause at hand. Each had a person in the family that they were in charge of shopping for. And each delighted in the opportunity to wrap and secretly deliver their hand picked gifts. It was a Christmas Eve we will always remember, and hopefully one that set the stage for many memorable Christmas Eve's to come.
When we returned from delivering our gifts and goodies, we were all in the best of spirits--exactly the mind set we needed to be in for our annual Shepard's Dinner.
Following the Shepard's Dinner we opened our three Christmas Eve presents, took pictures of the kids in their new Christmas jammies under the Christmas tree, (thanks Grandma and Grandpa Hoskins for sponsoring the jammies this year)
and tucked our little ones into bed. It was extra fun to kiss them goodnight since we had moved all of the kids beds into one room to help get ready for the movers. They giggled and talked together about the adventures of the evening, and then were compelled to quiet down and get off to sleep by the sudden sound of jingling bells from just outside their window. Nick and I even joined them after taking care of the last minute Christmas trimmings.
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