This year, as all previous ones, my children didn’t get a single present on Christmas Eve. Or morning.
Having said that, December was just as joyful and filled with celebration, love, expectation and yes, presents, for them as well. The month kicked off with the advent calendar that not only lasted all throughout the month but was also full of items dear to their hearts. They got Christmas themed socks, window stickers, lip balm, hand cream, nail polish, sticker earrings and a bow-tie, chocolate, toothbrushes, party poppers, activity books, washi tape for their art works.
They also got a few vouchers; for one-on-one time with us, for a night spent in our bed and one for a family movie night, among others. What we also felt was important, was making our children understand that this season is not all about receiving, it is also about giving. I have always liked the idea of Random acts of kindness, therefore baking for others, telling somebody you love him and writing cards for family and friends made its way into their little paper bags as well.
In the mid of the advent extravaganza, on the 6th December St Nicholas came to school, visited the Christmas market, an event organized for the Slovene community and our home. He did bring only small presents such as clementines, nuts and sweets but the sheer amount of the end gain was not small at all!
After that, Christmas came along. All through my childhood it has been largely i
gnored as a festivity by my atheist family, treated as any other evening of the year, just the same as in Marko’s family. There are multiple reasons for this, which I may go into further along this journey we are taking together but we and most families at the time did the whole family dinner, celebrating and presents on the 31st of December. New Year’s Eve was THE evening of the year when Grandpa Frost (or Dedek Mraz, a direct translation from the Russian Ded Moroz) came for a visit at midnight, leaving present under the tree,
Although through the years many families in Slovenia (re)adopted Christmas, it is not uncommon for Dedek Mraz to bring gifts since he still persists in our tradition. He has his processions through the cities and is still one of the Three Good Man who come bearing gifts in December. However, we are now raising our children in a culture that never skipped Christmas in the first place, therefore ignoring it and substituting it with New Year’s sometimes does feel strange even to us. But it is what we both know best and what feels familiar to us. So we stick by it.
What helps, is raising our cubs in a country where some children get presents for Christmas but the local ones get them traditionally on the 6th of December when St Nicholas, known to them as Kleeschen, brings them. On the other hand, the children of our German friends get presents from the Christkind, a golden-haired baby with wings, who symbolizes the new born baby Jesus. There are people of other religions, who do not even put up a Christmas tree and the Orthodox, who celebrate their Christmas on a wholly different date.
Therefore vive la difference!
And happy holidays to all.