Christmas traditions (Goins family edition)

The Goinses are Christmas Eve people. This worked out really great for me when Jason and I got married, because we spend Christmas Eve with his family and Christmas Day with mine. We don't have to travel the state all in one day. Usually we will go to his parents' house about lunchtime and spend some time with them. We exchange presents with them in the afternoon, and ever since Jackson came along, the kids get all their grandma/granddaddy loot. They are very generous to their three grandchildren.

The Goins family Christmas gathering starts at 5:00 in Stoneville, so we leave Walnut Cove about 4:30...in theory at least! The long-standing tradition is to have Christmas in the basement of his grandparents' house. When his grandparents were living, the basement was perpetually decorated for Chrismas complete with red and white stockings with everyone's names written on them and secured to the brick fireplace. (When I married in, I got my own stocking) A few years ago, we moved the celebration to main level of the house, but this year, we were back to our roots in the basement.

After a round of hugs and "Merry Christmas! Your kids are getting so big! It's so good to see you!", then we have prayer and dig in to our potluck dinner. After dinner, Jason's uncle Shannon reads the Christmas story out of Luke and gives his Christmas message. Every year it gets harder to hear over the growing number of small children running around! This was a tradition started by Jason's grandfather Alford who was a Pentecostal preacher. I got to experience Alford's message only once when Jason and I were dating, but tragically, Alford died only a few months after we were married. Shannon has taken up that mantle ever since.

After the message, we open presents. We draw names with this group, so everyone gets a gift. Then we play a good game of dirty Santa. Everyone who wants to play brings a gift valued at $5 or less. Jason's family makes this game really funny. The gifts range from practical (Crest Spinbrush) to practical joke (this year...a fart scented candle). We have gotten a lot of laughs in the past with a towel labeled "face" on one end and "butt" on the other, "Hot Stuff" flaming boxers that Jason ended up with one year, and a few things that probably wouldn't be appropriate to mention on a public blog! This year I got a roll of toilet paper, and Jason got some ShamWows.

Breaking traditions

A Goins family tradition that Jason grew up with was the annual UNO game. This was no civilized card game. It was riddled with lies, cheating, and cold-hearted betrayal. For some reason this tradition was abandoned about 6 or 7 years ago, probably when all the grandkids started having kids of their own and couldn't concentrate on the game anymore....or had to leave to get the kids in bed...or didn't want to model such deception for the next generation. I'm not entirely sure of the reason, but it is a tradition that was broken.

Another "broken tradition" this year, was that Michael (Jason's brother), Amanda, and 7-month-old Allie made the 10-hour trek from Alabama to spend Christmas with us this year. They aren't usually able to come for Christmas, so it was SUCH a treat for them to come this year. Grandma and Granddaddy were especially happy to see their youngest grandchild and get some quality cuddle time in. Allie is such a good-natured baby and went along very agreeably with all the traveling, visiting strangers, and keeping crazy schedules. We hate that Jackson's nasty stomach virus and a very busy schedule prevented the kids and I from visiting with them when they arrived, but we tried to make up for it later in the week. We cherished every moment with them, knowing that as Allie grows, they will probably want to be home at Christmas.

So, that's it...another Goins family Christmas in the books.