Tidewater Marickovich Christmas Traditions

Ever since Elizabeth has been old enough to do the whole Santa Claus thing we've stayed in town for Christmas.  Now that we've been at home for a few years the Tidewater Marickovich Christmas is starting to take shape.  Surely it will change eventually as the kids get older, but for now here are our best traditions, some of them still yet in their nascent form.

1.  Christmas Town

As the last ghoulish shrieks of Hall-O-Scream die away Busch Gardens starts to turn their theme park into a winter wonderland, stringing it with millions of lights and heading back into time to bring back authentic urchins from Victorian London.  We always go once and have a slow walk through the park, usually a few weeks before Christmas when it isn't too crowded yet.  It's nice.

Christmas Town Tree

2.  Church

Christmas Eve revolves around church.  The church holds three services on Christmas Eve, all of them rather different.  We take the kids to the 5:30 service which is geared towards kids with a sort of  a pageant.  It's a no-rehersal pageant, you just dress up as an angel or a shepherd and when we get to that part in the Gospel story you go up and join the tableu slowly taking form at the altar.  As easy and sweet as a no-bake jello pudding pie.

Once service is enough for me, but since I play bells I have to go to the 7:30 Lessons and Carols service, which is actually pretty nice.  Trish stays for the next service at 11:00 so she can sing with the choir, and I go home with the kids for:

3.  The Night Watch

The house is ready for Santa.  Reindeer food is spread out on the lawn, stocking are out, we've made santa a ham sandwich and left him a bottle of beer.  Elizabeth and Rosalyn pass out pretty quickly, as it's about 10:00 at this time, and it's my job to stay awake to watch them.

Why I don't just go to bed myself I don't know.  Maybe it has something to do with me wanting to emulate shepherds watching their flocks by night, or maybe it has something to do with the Serbs guarding the Badnjak on Christmas Eve, but I try to stay awake until Trish comes back from midnight mass, usually at about 1:00 AM.  Much like the Disciples in the garden of Getheseme, I find it very hard to do.  I think I have yet to actually make it.

4.  The Office Christmas Marathon

This was a new one this year.  I tried to watch every Christmas Episode of the The Office between Christmas Eve and Christmas Day - and there are a lot, as there are Christmas themed episodes in Seasons 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9.  I managed to do it this year and I really enjoyed it.  My favorite is the two part "Classy Christmas", where Holly Flax returns.

5.  Christmas Crackers

Another new one.  We bought a set of Christmas crackers from Costco this year.  I was honestly hoping for a much louder explosion when we pulled them apart (there is really only a loud snap), but then I guess that would make them too dangerous for household use.  We had fund with these, and I know I will endeavor to make them a part of our Christmas celebrations in the future.

6.  Presents!

How does one eat 4.6 pounds of shortbread?  One delicious cookie at a time.

Of course we do presents.  This year, among a few other things, my wife gave me a 4.6 pound tin of Walker's shortbread.  4.6 pounds!   So much for maintaining weight this holiday season!

Elizabeth got a ton of Frozen stuff.  If there is anything left on the planet that is Frozen themed that we do not own, I don't want to know what it is -- because then I would probably have to buy it.