‘Tis the Season

There is something about becoming a parent that makes the holidays magical.

When you’re a kid, the holidays are magical just because they are filled with so much excitement and anticipation. You are blissfully unaware of the lengths that your folks went to ensure you and your siblings had a memorable holiday season. When you’re an adult, holidays are magical because you get to experience the excitement and anticipation that you once had as a child through the eyes of your own children.

I love this season and the traditions that we continue from when I was a little girl, but also the new ones we’ve created as a family together.

We are entering the season of baking, shopping, special shows, holiday lights, traditional meals, Santa, trains, turkeys, Christmas pjs, and trees! The holiday season really starts for our family when we are watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade. We always enjoy a donut while we start preparing the food that we are taking to my mom’s that day. Our whole house is filled with the aroma of my husband’s homemade noodles. These are a hot commodity at our family’s Thanksgiving table. Speaking of tables, my mom puts together the loveliest spread with the same pattern of turkey plates that her Mema used to use. Nobody can decorate a Thanksgiving table quite like my mom.

The Rathz kids are ready for Christmas! (Photo provided by Megan Rathz)

Every year, my entire family goes to see Yuletide at the Hilbert Circle Theatre in downtown Indianapolis. We always go the first weekend of December, and it really is the kickoff to the Christmas season for my family and me.

We have a whole set of things that we always bake each year. Unfortunately, my son’s anaphylactic reaction to peanuts has put a bit of a damper on those buckeyes, but you do what you must, and we’ve added new items to the lineup to make up for the fact we cannot have peanut butter in our home. My personal favorite thing to bake this time of year is reindeer crack. My husband loves crinkle cookies. The kids love anything that is presented to them with chocolate or sugar. If it has sprinkles, all the better!

We love driving around and looking at Christmas lights. I love getting the kids in their pajamas and letting them bring a blanket and driving around to see the light displays.  We go to Starbucks multiple times a week this time of year to get a red cup and enjoy their seasonal offerings.  We also love going to Christmas at the Zoo. Typically, it is so cold that you can barely feel your face, but it’s about the memories. Bundle up, kiddies, and don’t ruin this for your mom and dad. We are making memories, darn it!

We also love boarding the Sullivans Express to visit Santa Claus. If you haven’t done this before, you will not regret it! And if you don’t already have tickets for it, good luck! My kids practice for days on end what they’re going to ask Santa for when they finally get face-to-face with Father Christmas. Typically, they are all big and bad until they see Santa and usually must be coaxed into what they want to say.

My mom has everyone over to her house the week before Christmas for our gift exchange. Better known as, the time when everyone in the family gets to watch my children open presents as a spectator watches a sporting event. The number of gifts that my children come home with between my mom and sister at Christmas is something to behold.

As we inch closer to the day of Christmas, we make sure we are watching any holiday movies that we haven’t seen yet. We are enjoying a little too much of my husband’s homemade hot cocoa mix. The daily attire is pajamas at this point. We are all hanging on by a thread to make it to the final days of work and school, so we can enjoy a much-needed time at home together.

Pat wasn’t too sure about meeting Santa at first. (Photo provided by Megan Rathz)

When Christmas Eve rolls around, we make our crinkle cookies for Santa. We go to a beautiful Christmas service at our church, then head out to a hibachi dinner as a family. Once we are home, we put on our pjs and listen to my husband recite The Night Before Christmas. Once he is finished, we make sure to leave our note for Santa along with his cookies, and we put the kids to bed in their matching Christmas pajamas, eagerly waiting for Santa’s arrival the next morning.

Christmas morning is a mad frenzy of happy chaos. The kids are so excited to see what Santa brought for them. My husband goes down first to verify that he came and turns on all our lights.  There is nothing like walking down the steps with two little kids about to see what Santa brought them for Christmas. It is absolute magic.

After we all exchange our gifts and spend half of the morning opening the toys in their ever-so thoughtful packaging, we hurry up and get ready as we host our entire family for lunch. My husband makes a beef tenderloin that would make Gordon Ramsay cry. Our home is filled with laughter, repeated stories, food, drinks, dogs all over the place, and the pitter patter of happy feet excitedly showing family what Santa brought them. Once everyone leaves and we get the kitchen cleaned up, we put on pajamas and enjoy a glass of wine on the couch while the kids either nap or play with their new toys.

I know from now until the end of the year is going to be chaos. I know that there will be days when I feel over-committed and burdened to make this the best holiday season ever. I know that my parents felt this when I was growing up. I also know how magical this time is and that instead of getting too much in the weeds of the details, I need to pause and take in every single magical moment this season.

Megan Rathz is a wife, mother, and teacher. She says everything she has ever learned in life came from her Master Gardener mother.