Christmas Underpants

I made Chex Mix today right before the kids got home from school. I was remembering how awesome the house would smell when I was little and would come home to find Mom had put the Chex Mix in the oven. The only time she made it was at Christmas, so it was a very special treat for us. I wanted my kids to have that same sense of excitement.

Emily walked in the back door and said with a grin, "I smell MIX!"

Later this evening when Claire and I were rolling out peanut butter balls, we were talking about how they always get new pajamas for Christmas because I always got new pajamas for Christmas. She asked what other kinds of presents I would get for Christmas from my mom and dad.

So I told her, "When I was a kid, we always got a ton of presents from Grandma and Poppy."

"Really?" she replied. "How many did you get?"

"Oh, I don't know. About 6 or 7 I guess."

She was shocked. My kids get about 4 or 5 presents under the tree each year. They get the traditional new pajamas, a new outfit, the girls get an angel and Kyle a nutcracker, and then a couple of other small things that I think they would like. We really try to keep it light and practical just because I don't want Christmas to be an orgy of presents.

So when I said my sisters and I got 6 or 7 presents, Claire's jaw hit the table. "What kinds of things did you get, Mom?" she asked.

"Well, we always got pajamas, as you know. Then every year we also got socks."

"Socks?" she said.

"And new underpants."

"For CHRISTMAS?"

"Yep. Every year. Pajamas, socks, and underpants," I said, seeing where this was going.

"Did you like getting those as presents?"

"Sure," I replied. "We liked getting new things. It was always nice to open the box and see a rainbow of colors looking back at me. One year we got underpants for each day of the week. They said, 'Sunday,' 'Monday,' 'Tuesday,' on them. We loved those."

Claire just looked at me. "You loved getting underwear for Christmas?"

"I sure did," I replied. "And as a matter of fact, we got Poppy socks, underwear, and tee shirts for Christmas too."

I told her how Mom would take us to Bacon's and with our Christmas Savings money, we would pick out two or three pair of Gold Toe black or blue socks for Dad or sometimes get him a box of handkerchiefs or a bag of Fruit of the Loom boxers.

"We usually got Grandma underwear too," I told her.

With this she just lost it. "So you're telling me that you all gave each other underwear for Christmas presents every year, and everybody liked that? Were you poor or what?"

"No," I said, "We weren't poor at all. We could just always use new underwear and socks, and they were just something that Grandma wrapped up for us to open on Christmas Eve. It never crossed our minds that this was not a 'normal' present. What would you say if I gave you underwear for Christmas?"

She gave me a sidelong glance and said, "I'd say, 'Okaaaaay. Thanks, I guess.'"

I'm seeing a trip to Target this week for one more present to put under the tree for each kid this year. It might become a tradition in our house too!