Christmas won't be Christmas without...

The following is a post I wrote some years ago for an American folklore class. Some truths, alas, no longer apply, but I enjoyed it enough to re-post it here:

If you recognize this picture, I am your fellow kindred spirit and want to hug you.

There are certain things I can't imagine not having at Christmastime in the Miller family. Some of them are obvious, some of them less so, but every single one of them is needed - kind of like the ingredients in Christmas cheesecake, or the individual snowflakes in a snowman, or the number of blood cells in... okay, never mind. Here's my list:


1. Unc needs to be there. Unc is my mother's only (younger) brother who lives in Tennessee. His real name is "George Valentine DeVault," which became "Val DeVault," which became "Uncle Val," from which I - I am inordinately proud of my role in this bit of family folklore - derived his famous nickname forever after: "Unc." It caught on very quickly, and now is so engrained into our family that even my mom and dad will occasionally say "Unc" rather than "Val" when he isn't there. He lives in Tennessee and used to come and visit us every year at Christmas when we lived in Georgia. He brought pound cake, he brought presents, he brought his Labrador dogs, but most importantly, he brought himself. He doesn't come anymore now that we live in Utah, and he's married, but I still miss him every year.

2. Every single decoration we own must be put up. Nothing must be allowed to languish in the closet. Old ornaments with any degree of sentimental value must be repaired and reused until they are no longer distinguishable from the tape that holds them together.

3. We must sing our traditional family program, "Walk in Sunlight," on Christmas Eve. Every member of the immediate family must be present. The large cut-out cardboard animals from my mom's ambitious days as a Primary leader must also be in attendance. Dressing up is encouraged for the kids, but no longer mandatory, I think.

4. We must watch "A Child's Christmas in Wales" on Christmas Eve before dinner. Out of all the Christmas movies I have seen, this remains my very favorite, although it may well be my associations of happy times while watching it that make it seem like such a wonderful movie to me. Whatever the case may be, I certainly intend to carry on this tradition in my family, and am fairly certain that some of my other siblings will as well.

5. We must eat the exact same meals every year on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. No alterations or variations whatsoever! And, if at all possible, there is to be no making of this food on any other day of the year - Christmas food shall come but once a year.

6. The stockings must be hung in the bedroom, or close by, and are to be filled, not with toys, but with food for Christmas lunch. This is always a special treat, as it's such fun to wake up early and guess what items will be in the stockings. From years of past experience, we have come to recognize that Santa has a few pretty regular items on the menu, but he has been known to vary it from time to time with unexpected tidbits (my very favorite year was when I got a stuffed penguin in my stocking in addition to the lunch - my, that was like Christmas morning PLUS a Tooth Fairy visit).

7. I - this is a personal issue - must wake up AT LEAST two hours in advance to 6 am, the established hour when we may all sneak upstairs to see what Santa Claus has brought. There's simply no fun at all in sleeping in late on Christmas and losing all that wonderful time of early morning anticipation. Plus when else in the day will you have time to read your scriptures, pore over the last of the Christmas books, complete the ritualistic "checking the stocking" tradition, and ooh and aah over every item and giggle with your siblings about plans for the day.

8. We do our best to watch all of our Christmas movies, but there are certain movies that absolutely MUST be watched in order to make a complete Christmas. Some of them must even be watched at a certain time. In my opinion, these are:

The King is Born (watched the Sunday before Christmas, always)
It's a Wonderful Life (watched the Friday before Christmas, always)
Miracle on 34th Street (the OLD version, usually watched just after Thanksgiving, to get us through the transition of holiday moods)
A Christmas Carol (from 1938 - despite its somewhat censored plot, the screenplay, music, and casting is so wonderful that this is is our favorite version)
The Little Drummer Boy (usually watched the second Sunday before Christmas; it never fails to make my mom cry, and last year it even made me cry, so I guess the tradition is catching on)

9. Every sibling needs to be present. With my oldest brother at Duke University, and my next oldest siblings serving missions in the past two years, it's been a long time since all of our siblings have been together. I'm looking forward to the reunion this Christmas!

10. We have to draw names of siblings, and buy the sibling a present, usually under $20. This was a much more important tradition when I was younger, and obsessed with counting the number of presents I would receive. But we still do it today, and I still like it, so there.

11. We have an empty basket which we are supposed to fill with straws ("good deeds" which we do for each other) from December 1 to cushion the basket for Baby Jesus. I'm sad to say that this tradition appears to be dwindling away, as we usually forget to put in straw or forget to do good deeds, and end up dumping in the whole bag of straw on Christmas Eve anyway. But I still think it's a cute idea, and I'd like to do it with my own children.

12. We always leave out a piece of fruit for Santa every year, by the chimney. We may leave milk, too, but it depends.

Fellow family members, feel free to add what you think needs to be added to make the perfect Miller Family Christmas ever!

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Ruth from 2011 speaking here again. I am really sad to see some of these traditions are no longer applicable or feasible (or at least not this year). We gave up #11 in earnest this year, as well as #10, #8, and #2. Due to circumstances beyond our (and likely their) control, #1 and #9 are also no-gos this year. I was a strong force in keeping #12 alive, but being married and grown-up and all, I may or may not feel the obligation to continue this tradition, particularly considering the information provided regarding #6. With regard to #6, Matthew and I both have stockings at our parents' houses instead of our own. While Matthew's stocking has been overflowing upon more than one occasion, my "Santa" has informed me that married children "graduate" from their stockings (WHAT?!?). After so many years of being good and believing in Santa and leaving out the fruit and . . . even writ- wr- writing letters once upon a time (sniff, sob, sigh), I am a little torn up about that. Perhaps a petition is in order. As for #7, I've fallen into the habit of waking up at 5 am whether I wish to or not, every day of the week, due to Matthew's having to start the process of getting ready for work at 6. So yep, got that one covered! So, in conclusion, #7, #3, #4, and #5, though not perhaps quite performed to a T (We watched the movie after dinner, okay? And we're having Christmas Eve on the 25th because it's Sunday, all right!!? Really, I wish you wouldn't get so worked up about this!!!!), are holding down the fort in terms of Miller family Christmas traditions this year. How are your traditions doing, folks?