Toy magazines are popping up in the mail almost everyday. As soon as my youngest son learns that a new one has arrived, he goes through every page so diligently, devouring detail upon detail. When he finally returns them to the pile at the corner of my kitchen, his fingerprints are on every page. The important pages are bent, and some items are marked. It’s plain to see that the holidays are coming soon….
And, I am looking forward to them. Maybe it’s because my children are going to be off from school—I can sleep in with them. Or maybe it’s because I am still new to the whole beautiful idea of the holidays in the United States.
Growing up in Japan, I did not celebrate Christmas as a child. Though my family is Catholic, and we always attended mass on the night of Christmas Eve, there was no family feast or exhilarating exchanging of gifts. Besides, school was still open on the morning of Christmas Eve. It wasn’t that surprising, considering we would go to school six days a week in Japan.
My very first Christmas in this country goes back a while. My husband—who was, at the time, my boyfriend—invited me to spend the holidays with his family. Under the pressure of meeting his six other siblings, their families and dozens of cousins, I can barely recall how my first Christmas dinner tasted.
The best part about Christmas, to me, is watching my children open their gifts. The twinkling light in their eyes, the cry of joy and laughter and the love that I feel watching them is unlike any other feeling I know of.
However, I’ve always found it particularly hard to describe Santa Claus to my children. Santa Claus was truly foreign to me until I moved here, and I feel almost uncomfortable describing something I never grew up with. All the same, I believe Santa Claus is a beautiful notion.
I once came across an article entitled, “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.” (It was first published in the NY Sun in the year of 1897.) Though I was not 8 years old at the time that I read it — I was actually a high school student back in Japan — I still envied Virginia. How lucky she was to be receiving gifts from Santa Claus!
But at the same time, I snickered at the thought of grown ups making up stories and convincing children to believe in Santa Claus. The spirit of Christmas, that spirit of giving, was not something that was natural, nor familiar to me. But with each year that I experienced an American Christmas, I grew with my children. I began to detail Santa more and more intricately and would become almost as anxious for the holidays as my children did.
Today, I delight myself, once Thanksgiving is over, in knowing that one of the greatest times of the year is only weeks away. I love watching all the movies of Santa Claus with my children, especially the classics such as “ Santa Claus is Coming to Town” to “A Year Without a Santa Claus.” In fact, I’ve made it a family tradition to watch them at the beginning of December, which is right around the corner.
In addition, I begin to stock up my pantry with what is still considered by me as unusual holiday food, hang wreaths and wait for my children to make their lists (which, of course, is no problem for them). The only thing I don’t particularly want during Christmastime is snow, but maybe that’s just the southern Japanese in me.
So, with very little exposure to Christmas and all other major holidays, here, in America, I started my family’s holiday traditions. Tradition, in essence, is inheriting one’s way of celebrating and passing the customs down from generation to generation. But with little knowledge of these festivities in the U.S., I decided it might be best to leave the tree decorating to my husband. So, I did.
And, I continued to follow his lead until I was comfortable with the whole holiday concept. Now, with American Christmas traditions instilled in my brain, I can’t wait to see my children pass them on. Do I miss Japanese holidays? Yes, but in the end, creating my own family traditions is more fulfilling to me.
Have you created any new holiday traditions for your family? If so, please share them with World Moms Blog in the comments section below!
This is an original World Moms Blog post by Sunny Springer, our American, Japan-born writer, who is raising her family in New Jersey, USA.
Photo credit of picture of Japanese toy catalogue to http://www.flickr.com/photos/ozzywu1974/881879148/. This photo has a Creative Commons Attribution license.
Hi Sunny,
growing up (in Norway), all though we celebrate xmas I have never believed in Santa and I have lately been wondering if my son will believe in him when he gets a bit older, so very interesting to read your story!
We don’t really have that many traditions at the moment as we sometimes celebrate xmas with my husbands family in the UK or in Norway (am working on an article now where I talk about the differences!).
The only “tradition” my husband and I have is that we watch “Love Actually” on dvd, that always gets me in the xmas spirit 🙂
Asta
Hi Asta,
My two older children are at the age of knowing all about Santa Clause, yet it’s cute to see how they talk about it with my youngest. I think children are entitled to believe in Santa Clause or something equivalent, I want them to enjoy it as long as they can. And I sometimes wonder if I had Santa Clause in my childhood, had it made any difference in my life.
Sunny
Great post, Sunny – really interesting to read of some cultural differences between Japan and North America.
Christmas in my family is always pure chaos, because my younger son was actually born on Christmas Day. We usually celebrate with family on Christmas Eve and open a few Christmas presents on Christmas morning. The afternoon and evening, though, belong to my son in honour of his birthday.
Runnigforautism~ thank you for your comment. Christmas in your family sounds really special. He will have wonderfull memory to cherish for his life. Our Christmas can be chaotic too from time to time, especially with my in-laws, but that’s how Christmas should be to my family and my children. Aside from my personal preference how to celebrate this holiday, I’ve realized giving them a good memory is anothre gift.
Sunny,
Thanks for sharing your cultural experiences! I went to Japan for a wedding near the Christmas holiday season in 2005. I was surprised to see so many Christmas trees lit up from the airport to the wedding reception hall. I don’t remember seeing any Santas though! My friends there explained that a lot of the decoration was really just that, decoration, but there wasn’t much more to the holiday in Japan.
It is interesting how the gift-giving culture is different among Christians in different places from your experience. I love to hear about those things!! Great job!
Veronica Samuels
Veronica~ Thank you for your comment. When my parents sepnt Christmas with us, they felt as if they landed on a land from a fairy tale. They absolutely loved Christmas here. Now my mom helps the church for decoration, pack up the Christmas gifts for my children – they never gave me anything when I was young:)
Sunny ~ I enjoyed reading your article. I love this time of year. Reading your article got me in the holiday spirit.
My oldest daughter is 5-years-old. She received an American Girl Doll catalog in the mail about two months ago and has been coveting it since. About two weeks ago the mailman came to our door carrying a package and he also had the new American Girl Doll catalog in his hands. My daughter started screeching and jumping up and down! She made her own magazine rack and has all of “her” magazines in it. A doll with hair is her #1 desire for Christmas.
As for Santa… it’s an interesting topic. I believed in Santa growing up, but honestly when I found out he wasn’t real I was hurt and mad at my parents for lying to me. That said, I had a long discussion with my husband before we had kids that I did not like the idea of lying to children and telling them to be good for this person who does not exist. I felt strongly that children should be good because it is the right thing to do. I wanted to stress to my children that Christmastime should be about family, friends and things we are grateful for.
So, we never told our girls about “Santa.” My girls are 5 and 2 years of age and the magic of Christmas is very present in their lives. They know Santa as a character in books and movies. Our families, friends and even strangers ask them “do you know who is coming next month?” or “what do you want from Santa this year?” My husband and I never intervene or tell them what to say. My oldest just nods her head, doesn’t think much of it.
I go all out for Christmas… decorations, music, matching outfits, presents, baking cookies, taking Christmas light tours, making Christmas crafts and every other thing that goes along with celebrating. I read the books of Santa to the girls but I don’t tell them he is real. My oldest has never asked me if he is real. She is not lacking in any Christmas spirit due to not believing in him.
Courtney~ Baking cookies! I’d love to come to your house!
Anyway, the meaning of Christmas, the spirit of Christmas gets lost often in today’s world with our life style. Whether we believe in Snata Clause or not, giving the warm memories of holidays to our children is a gift–a gift they will pass on to the next generation. I hope I live to see day that my children recollect on how they loved it, as well as hopefully seeing my grandchildren get the most out of the Christmas spirit as possible. I believe as pure children, fantasizing and dreaming of a fictional charcter is wonderful. Time always loses itself in our hands, and savoring the young years–especially the holiday season–is one of the best things one can do. Unfortunately, children aren’t aware of time’s speed–it is our job to help them have the best experience they can, and let them be free to dream.
Great post, Sunny! I can’t wait for the holdiay season either. I feel that the department stores are in the holiday spirit somewhat early this year, is it just me?! Our favorite Christmas tradition is choosing a Christmas tree. Since we live in Manhattan the tree vendors are just lined up on the sidewalk (literally) for about a month. They arrive the Friday after Thanksgiving and pack up shop Christmas Day. They sleep in a trailer parked by their trees . . I realize that as I’m writing this it might sound a little strange! We buy our tree from the same woman each year and I’m excited to have Charlie help choose our tree this year. He’s going to love that my husband just hefts it over his shoulder, walks it home and brings it up in the elevator!
Hi Allie~ Before this Halloween I went to Home Goods to buy some decoration for Thanksgiving. There were nothing left but only Christmas decorations in the store. And I was thinking I was ahead of the season! True, holiday spirit arrives at stores earlier and earlier each year.
Thanks for your post Sunny. I’ve been putting off thinking about Christmas because I feel like Halloween was just last week and can’t believe Thanksgiving is next week! That being said, reading your article did start to get me excited. Last year I started a new tradition…having my oldest daughter’s closest friends over to make and decorate Christmas cookies. I had so much fun (I think they did too). I am really looking forward to that this year 🙂
Hi Evafannon, I agree with you. From Halloween to Thanksgiving and to Christmas time is flying. I like your idea of new tradition. Sounds like a lot of fun. And I’m sure that your daughter will remember this new tradition and cherish it for long time.