Today will be a more personal post. I’ve had comments asking for my name and my picture – I don’t share them on the blog for privacy reasons. It honestly shouldn’t matter if my name is Seraphina, or if I may possibly have a third eye (hey, that just means more eye shadow looks!). but sometimes it’s nice to know a little more about who I am.
In order to talk about today’s collab topic, Christmas Traditions, I’ll have to tell you a bit about my childhood. It’s story time – gather ’round!
For long time readers, you may know that I’m adopted. I was not adopted as a wee little baby, I was adopted when I was 10 years old, so I was quite conscious of the fact that I was adopted. When I was little, I actually lived in a children’s home (aka an orphanage like little Orphan Annie ). Christmas traditions between the ages of 0 to 5 were spotty at best – life stabilized after the age of 5. The children’s home did everything possible to make the holidays the most “normal” experience as possible and we had a Christmas tree with presents etc. but the difference was that we spent the holidays with other kids and a house parent (like a counsellor) instead of with our families. We received ONE present each, and that’s it. None of this “omg my 34 presents won’t fit under the tree #realproblems” business. But, don’t pity me – I actually have very fond memories of my time at the children’s home. (And to preemptively answer the top 2 questions I get when I tell people that I’m adopted: No, I do not know who my biological mother / father are. and no, I have no desire to find them.)
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Fast forward to coming to my adopted family. They’re quite religious so in fact, Christmas Eve and morning were spent at church. We were NOT allowed to open our presents until after church! On Christmas morning we could open our stockings only, then off to church we went, then it was lunch time, then we came home to open the rest of the presents. Can you just imagine what it was like for a kid? I did mention that I’m a very patient person, right? Our Christmas dinner was just our immediate family and it was always turkey with cranberry jelly, stuffing, gravy, popovers, mashed potatoes… I digress. (And to preemptively answer the top question I get about my adoptive family: No, we’re not close now)
And there were a few Christmases that I opted to spend the holidays entirely alone. It was a self-imposed period of solitude where I pretended Christmas didn’t exist – I turned down invitations from pals to spend the holidays with their families. I just didn’t want to bother. So remember, there are people out there who are alone for the holidays… and in retrospect, I’m thankful I had those quiet times too.
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Nowadays, Christmas is a very low-key affair, and it’s just the way I like it! My SO and I exchange presents on Christmas Eve day, and we drive over to the in-laws (~3 hrs away) and spend Christmas Day with them. They don’t go to church at all – we’re terrible heathens now. We open presents before breakfast – then we have quite a fancy breakfast consisting of pear pancakes with blueberry sauce (all from scratch – YUM), bacon, sausage, and hash brown. For the rest of the day we eat, watch movies, drink, and take naps. Christmas dinner is the typical turkey dinner – sometimes it’s ham – the best part is always dessert, usually a few kinds of pies / cakes. I always save room for dessert!
Thanks for reading – it’s something different from me on the blog. I just wanted to share some Christmas Traditions from a different perspective. What are some of your Christmas traditions?
This is a collaboration topic for Blogmas – be sure to check out the rest of the Babes in Blogland for their Christmas traditions:
♥ Ingrid of Curly.Spring.Blossom
♥ Kaily of hello Kaily
♥ Sharon of Sharon beauty Prime
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