It’s that time of year again…time to discuss another Thomas family Christmas tradition. I’ve already talked about Christmas lights here and here. I’ve also talked about our Christmas ornament tradition here. But did you know another one of our traditions is to eat cake on Christmas morning? Yup, that’s right we forgo the traditional Christmas breakfast dishes and opt for cake instead.
How the tradition began
The tradition started when the kids were little and we wanted to impress upon them the meaning of Christmas. We wanted to make sure they understood we were celebrating God’s greatest gift to the world: Jesus Christ. Since they were young, we had to explain it in a way they could understand, so we told them Christmas was Jesus’ birthday.
My youngest – who was about two at the time, wondered why there was no cake if it was a birthday celebration. He had a valid point. One can’t have a birthday celebration without a cake. And it couldn’t be a true celebration without singing the Happy Birthday song and blowing out candles. And that’s just what we did and a tradition was born. Just taking a few minutes to think about Jesus before opening the gifts put the focus back where it needed to be.
Should the tradition continue?
Every year the kids look forward to Jesus’ birthday celebration. But as they got older, I wondered how much longer they would want to keep honoring this tradition. My oldest, Caleb naturally loved the tradition but I wasn’t sure about the other two. They didn’t complain but I wasn’t sure if they were just humoring me. And I didn’t want to continue to do something they weren’t interested in. I’d rather do something that everyone enjoyed rather than doing something for tradition’s sake. So I asked them if we should continue or start something new.
The verdict
Much to my surprise, my kids voted to keep the tradition. So eating cake for Christmas continues. And I wonder how long the tradition will keep going. Will the kids continue having cake for Christmas breakfast once they leave the nest? Only time will tell.
I’d like to know what traditions you’ve kept and which ones you’ve had to adapt as the kids have gotten older. And what traditions were you forced to keep during your childhood that you wished would’ve ended? And which ones from your childhood have you passed on to your children?