Today’s Holidailies Prompt is: “Childhood holiday traditions that you’re happy not to follow as an adult.”
I think one tradition I’m happy to not follow is having to go to bed early on Christmas Eve. Traditionally, this was the time that my parents would use to wrap presents or bring them out of hiding places. I think one year, I remember them buying me a bicycle and they were putting it together while my sister and I slept. I woke up to use the bathroom and they freaked out and mom literally waited for me to come out to escort me back to the bedroom. Looking back, I know why, but then I think it was just a weird thing to have happen to you when you’re trying to pee.
These days, I like staying up late. I totally pay for it the next day, but I don’t miss the direction of going to sleep when I don’t have obligations the next day such as school or work or other things that require me to wake up. But I will say this: I do miss getting up early on Christmas morning and waking my parents up in order to rip open presents. I miss that feeling of anticipation sometimes and I look back on it as one of those happier times of my family’s time together when we were all much younger. I also loved watching my sister go apeshit when she didn’t get what she wanted and then get sent to her room or grounded or otherwise punished for acting like a spoiled brat.
Ah, good times.
I don’t have any children, and I’m not planning on having any. So all I have are those memories of Christmas morning at our house, and recalling the various Christmases that we got to spend every year until we all went our separate ways. Of course, I still talk to or see my family during those times, and it’s great to have conversations with them as adults… but I still look back wistfully sometimes.
