My Lifesong: Christmas Past

Warning: This post has a lot of pictures, but I kept finding good ones from past Christmases... and they are only from 2006 on. None from when we were little. Maybe I'll get some of those someday :)

Christmas is probably my favorite holiday of them all. I just have so many great memories of Christmases from when I was younger which makes it so much sweeter. In the past couple years, things have changed just because all of us ‘kids’ are growing up and have jobs or are in college or are married/engaged, but thankfully my family is blessed to have great memories to carry on with us. Here is how I remember Christmas growing up.

A disclaimer to my family and others who know how we did things, this is how I remember things – which may be a little different than you remember them or how they actually were. J

With my mom and dad on Christmas Day 2006

From as far back as I remember, we always went to the Schroeder Christmas on Christmas Eve in either Vail or Manning or Westside. We would eat and play a few games and have a little gift exchange. Then, we would leave in time to go to church, which started around 10:30 p.m. When I was young, I just attended church, but when I got old enough to be in youth group, I would be a part of putting on the Christmas Eve Service which was always a fun to be a part of. I love the Christmas Eve service because of the atmosphere and the feeling that was in the air that it was really Christmas Eve! I went to a relatively small church in a small town so it was so great to see people who usually didn’t come to church, come for the Christmas Eve service. It made it seem so much more special.

Me with Gma and Gpa Kock after showing off
our presents on Christmas morning 2006

My favorite part of the whole service was always (and still is) at the end when everyone would take their little candle and get in a big circle around the sanctuary of the church with the lights off and sing Silent Night by just the light of the candles. Doing that every year is such an amazing memory that is ingrained in my mind and I hope I never forget that.

WIth Gma and Gpa Jons on Christmas morning 2006

Now, my family loves to talk and we are always the last people to leave any place. I usually don’t mind so much, but when you’re a little kid and it’s Christmas Eve, you’re going to be excited to get home! I had a little saying that I would always recite when I wanted to get going and get home. I’d say:

The sooner we get home, the sooner we can go to bed.

The sooner we go to bed, the sooner we can wake up.

The sooner we wake up, the sooner we get to open presents!

I don’t think that ever moved us along any faster, but it was fun to say.

My dad likes to fall asleep near or under Christmas trees :)

On Christmas morning, we’d always wake up early and go down to check out the presents under the tree. When we were young, we’d get up really early, but as the years went on, we’d get up a little later and later each year. I remember a few years when my younger brother would be the first one up and come wake us up so we can open presents. Those are fun memories for me. When we’d get up, we’d always have to pry our parents out of bed to come down so we can open presents. We were super impatient people on Christmas morning, and they were slow so we always had to nag at them to get out of bed and come downstairs!

With my grandparents, Christmas morning 2007

We also always had little fights about who got to sit where on the couch and who got to use what blankets and also who had to hand out the presents to everyone else. I’d say about 99% of the time, it was Jared who had to hand out the presents, and he still does have to! J The downfall of that, though, would be that he would hoard presents. We would go around and open one at a time and he would occasionally skip himself. That, coupled with the fact that he usually had more presents than the rest of us, meant that we’d sit there at the end and watch him open present after present. What a stinker!

With Grandpa Jons at the Schroeder Christmas on Christmas Eve 2008

After we got done opening our presents, we would start playing with our favorite ones. Then, all of our Grandparents and sometime my Aunt Doreen (and Uncle Nick in the past few years) would come over and we would take turns showing them all what Santa gave to us. After the present show and tell, we would all have Christmas lunch/breakfast (whatever time it ends up being when we are all done). I’m not sure how long we’ve been having a big breakfast like that or how long we’ve been doing it the way we have the past few years, but it’s the way I remember it now. My mom would make French toast, eggs, butter braids, toast, fruit, sausage, and bacon, and we would have milk, chocolate milk, egg nog and all that good stuff that goes along with it. It’s great! Depending on what time all that gets over with, we will all take naps and/or play with our new toys and then we’d get ready for our next party.

With cousin Molly and sister Kellsey on Christmas Eve 2008

In the afternoon on Christmas morning, we would go over to my Grandma and Grandpa Kock’s house. When we get there, we usually snack on food (there’s lots of eating throughout the whole day) and then eventually get all together to open presents. When we were younger, it was a big extravagant thing with lots of presents for my siblings and cousins and all that good stuff. We would open our presents and then spend the rest of the night (late into the night) playing with all our new things and playing make believe and just having an awesome time. As we’ve grown up, there are less presents (as it should be) but there is just as much eating of wonderful food and playing games late into the night! I just love it!

After Christmas Eve Service at Church, 2008

For all those reasons and more, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are two of my favorite days of the year. Although Christmas traditions have somewhat changed over the past few years, we will always have the memories of all the great times of Christmases in the past and I so very much look forward to all the memories we will make in the future and the new traditions we will create!

Merry Christmas!