Making Christmas last

I have so many other things to do but I couldn't resist adding to the ever growing list of ideas for Works for me Wednesday over at Rocks in My Dryer.

One of my favorite traditions growing up had to do with savoring Christmas and enjoying it throughout that whole week off from school. My mom hated seeing us rip open our gifts and have everything done with in a matter of hours so when we were pretty young she basically set aside a small pile of seven gifts to be opened one a day from Christmas to New Years. They were usually smaller gifts, like books, CDs, new clothes, socks etc. As we got older it was up to us to pick which ones we would open Christmas morning but she would usually guide us if there was a special gift that should be opened right away. I loved this because it served a purpose of slowing everything down. It got so that each of us would open our gifts very slowly and watch one another and see which gift they would pick out next. Also it helped avoid that feeling of let-down that so often comes right after Christmas. The next mornings we were excited to open our next gift - socks, clothes, whatever!, and rush in to see what our siblings had opened. It felt like Christmas all week long and we were able to have a more relaxed, low key Christmas morning. Also I think it's a nice treat for a school ager who might need a little excitement while at home all week. I remember loving it and in fact we continued the tradition all through high school even when we had the choice not to.

So that's my tip for WFMW on how to make Christmas last....