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As it's officially under a month until The Big Day, I thought I'd start a "Your run-up to Christmas and traditions" to get and keep everyone in the spirit of the season.
As anyone who knows me know, Christmas is my absolutely favorite time of the year. I'll be weighing in on how the Olesker Family celebrates the season a bit later. But for now I'd like to hear from everyone here. Have at it and remember -- details, details, details.
Merry Christmas, ho-ho-ho!
My tradition has always been to get a real tree in the house. Sure getting it inside was a pain in the butt and watering is a pain in a butt but that was always something I handled. But this year my wife insisted on a fake tree so that's what we did. I don't like it but happy wife happy life right?
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I get it, He-Dad. For twenty-four years Kim and I always had a real tree. But during the pandemic we switched to a beautiful nine-foot tall artificial tree and we've never regretted it. For us, the big deal was the smell of a real tree. Well Hobby Lobby has these thin, four inch long, pine-scent infused kind of fuzzy-coated stocks with a small hole in them that you put an ornament hanger on and then hang all over your tree. A dozen of them in a tube. Makes the house smell like a real tree is in it. We supplement this with a couple of tall Yankee Candle pine-scented pillar candles that we light every night and we're in business.
Now we have no tree to lug home and get up, no pine needles to vacuum up -- and you never get them all -- no watering the first week and no carrying the out and ave to clean up after after New Year's Day.
I'm a happy camper. 😉
Christmas Eve is the one night a year I sleep over my parents house. In the morning I come down in my Xmas pajamas with footies and open presents next to tree just like when I was little. And my mom makes Cinnabons.
I ❤️ CINNABONS!!!!!!!!
OMG! This is the sweetest thing I've ever heard! I cannot imagine the joy this brings to your parents' home. You should be the poster child for Great Daughters of the World! 🙂
My tradition has always been to get a real tree in the house. Sure getting it inside was a pain in the butt and watering is a pain in a butt but that was always something I handled. But this year my wife insisted on a fake tree so that's what we did. I don't like it but happy wife happy life right?
I went through the very same thing with my wife. No matter how many times we vacuumed, pine needles would always turn up all year long, often sharply in our feet. She finally had enough and I really couldn't blame her. 🙂
We have the Power! 
Had to take my oldest to the ER lastnight (she's fine) didn't get home untill 2:44 A.M. Had my youngest with me also, luckily they both slept most of the time once we got into a room. So we get home and I'm trying to get my youngest in bed so I can lay down and try to get like two hours of sleep and I realize I gotta do the Elf on a shelf ASAP. So in a pinch real quick this is what happened and my son loved it.
@ravewayneboo glad she’s ok. Haha that’s classic😂
I'll spare you the details, but I don't have a ton of great Christmas memories (or otherwise) from growing up. So, almost all of my Christmas traditions are 20 years old or less (going back to when my wife and I started dating). One of my new-ish Christmas traditions that I love is that my family opens one gift on Christmas Eve and it's always a game for the family and then we spend the evening playing it. Our daughter is a little too old to visit Santa (that stopped last year 😪 ), but we still do the Elf on a Shelf. We also enjoy driving around and seeing the lights. Our church has a ministry that buys presents for kids of parents that are in prison, so we always choose at least one and enjoy shopping for him or her.
This year, we started a new tradition that I think we'll do going forward. There are 24 chapters in the Book of Luke. If you read one chapter each night starting on December 1, then on Christmas Eve you will have read an account of the life of Jesus. So, we've really been enjoying that.
Great thread idea, @theman ! I've enjoyed reading all the posts so far.
So how do I tell my wifey I am sick of The Christmas Story and I don't want on my TV this Christmas for 24 hours?
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So how do I tell my wifey I am sick of The Christmas Story and I don't want on my TV this Christmas for 24 hours?
Ask her to compromise. Ask her to make it a movie night and watch it one time with your family with popcorn and m&ms and cuddling.
I will give it a try EB. If she divorces me it's on you!
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Lol at least your wife isn’t trying to always get you to watch high school musical. She is in love with Zac Effron and said she’d leave me for him😂
Try this when you have that discussion. It's the single best piece of advice I ever had about marriage, and it's tough to follow, but it works: When you're having a heavy discussion, or about to have one, one of you has to reach out and hold the other's hand throughout it." Trust me, it entirely changes the dynamic of the discussion. 🙂
@theman I LIKE IT! Next time I ask her if it's alright to go hang with the guys tonight and drink beers and watch sports I will try that!
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Our daughter, 4.10-GPA-for-three-and-a-half-straight-years-Zoe, returns from college this Thursday and my life will be complete, with all our family gathered through New Year's. We're heading to the heart of Chicago for our annual visit to Christkindlmarket, which is an amazing event -- https://www.christkindlmarket.com .
So far we've gone through three batches of Christmas cookies and two of peanut brittle, and Kim shows no signs of letting up. Eggnog and Irish coffee are flowing, fireplaces blazing, the entire inside and outside of our home fully decorated and -- OMG! -- all presents bought and wrapped!
The spirit -- and meaning -- of Christmas abounds and overflows in The Olesker home. God bless us all... 
Listen, I'm blessed to be married to a drop dead gorgeous red-haired, blue-eyed Irish angel who's a University of Nebraska graduate, is a rabid college football and Chiefs fan and thinks Guinness is mother's milk. (You ought to see her pout her bee-stung red lips and puff on a cigar once in a while. Drives the guys crazy.). So it's not an issue for me. 🙂