Traditions, within those holidays, were an integral part.
When Ed and I became parents for the first time in 1990, mom bought our son a stuffed animal. She said he was going to receive one each Christmas from then on.
Less than two years later, she was buying for two grandsons.
Then, three.
Finally her fourth grandchild, the only granddaughter, came into the picture within five short years.
All our kids got stuffed animals from my mom at Christmas. Braxton would forever have 'one more' than the others, since he was the oldest...and so on. They relished this. Can't change birth order.
Ed started putting the stuffed animals into a old lever pack, with a metal air-tight lid, which had belonged to my grandparents. This way, we could store the animals in the garage during the other times of the year and they'd be safe from the elements.
As the kids grew, their collection did, too. They loved opening the lever on that metal lid and pulling out the stuffed animals they'd aquired. Memories lived within that container.
Once our tree was up, the kids liked to put all of their stuffed animals around the tree--since Santa would be bringing the presents on Christmas. Some years, they would sleep around the tree. Other years, they would pick a bedroom (usually Bentley's because the boys said hers was the biggest) and bring all their animals into it. They'd sleep on the floor, in sleeping bags, with their animals surrounding them. I loved seeing where they would choose to sleep. It made the weeks leading up to Christmas so exciting for them.
When mom passed away in 2002, the kids had already amassed quite a stash.
Though we never spoke about it, specifically, I felt my mom would have wanted me to carry on this tradition.
Within the past several years, we've have. While we missed some years in between, we have picked up where we left off.
Yes, I know. My kids aren't little anymore. Braxton is 27; Blaize is 25; Brody just turned 24; and Bentley, 22.
But, they're still my little kids. Monger Lin's grandchildren. And that means they receive a stuffed animal at Christmas time.
I'm not sure mom ever had a plan as to what would happen when the kids grew and moved out into their own homes.
I've told them they can either leave the animals here or take them with them. We'll see what happens.
These animals are so much more than stuffed animals.
They represent a love their Monger Lin had for them.
They represent the wonder of the Christmas season through a child's eyes.
They represent the innocence of youth.
We've incorporated another tradition, as well. All the kids' Christmas ornaments, which they made during elementary school, are in separate, individual, boxes. Our Christmas tree holds only the ornaments from those boxes. It's a tree full of our kids, across the years.
When they stopped making ornaments, we let them pick one out each year. This became difficult--hard to coordinate teen-aged schedules for a joint shopping trip--so, I started having special ornaments made each year, instead. Now, we give these as one of their presents. Each year, they have a new addition to their ornament box.
Every family has their own traditions. Their own reasons for repeating the same things over and over again, without fail.
I can't explain the joy it brings to me to see the kids come home and put their ornaments on the tree. Or, to go through all the stuffed animals trying to find theirs. My adult children turn into the wide-eyed little kids I strain to remember.
Perhaps one of them will want to carry on this stuffed animal tradition with their family.
One thing is for certain, Ed is going to have to find another container somewhere. This one is filled to the brim.
Mom knew what she was doing, didn't she?
It is what it is.
p
