So, this is Christmas

Christmas is the time of year when traditions are revisited. Most people have at least one special thing they celebrate at Christmas. Because I did not grow up on a farm, my Christmas traditions did not include waiting for chores to finish before opening presents or giving my favorite cow extra grain, as I have heard from others.
Growing up, my family always had family friends visit our house for Christmas Eve. We would stay up late playing games. I have three siblings, and our friends had four kids who came too, so it was a big crowd. Our favorite games were Spoons and Catch Phrase.
On Christmas morning, we went to church and opened presents sometimes in that order, which was painful for a kid. I remember thinking as a young child that the church service might have had more of an impact if I had not spent the whole time wondering what was in all the boxes at home.
Every year, my dad’s side of the family gets together to celebrate. We alternate between my parents’ house and my aunt’s house. For a long time, it was not your usual serene Christmas dinner by the fireplace. My family tends to treat holidays as an excuse to party. Cousins and friends usually spread out across the house and into the garage. Libations flow and memories are made. With a large family, it was one of the few times we were all in the same place.  
Now that I am grown with four kids of my own, it’s hard to make traditions. We do not live close to any of our families, so Christmas usually turns into a travel day for us. We generally have to leave my husband behind to run the farm while the kids and I make the two-hour drive to our hometown for an overnight visit.
My children now know the anticipation of waiting until chores are done to open presents. Our farm story has been so eventful with moving a handful of times and always trying to either build the herd up or milk three times a day, trying to increase productivity to make ends meet. It seems that every year has been different.
One of our first years at this farm was difficult because we had been having manure system troubles all week. In the tiestall barn, the barn cleaner chain kept breaking. It was one of those weeks where I hardly had a moment out of the barn, and I had not made it to the grocery store before Christmas. I was trying to think how to get creative to make a festive meal for my kids when my neighbors showed up with a huge bag of groceries. It had all the ingredients to make a luxurious breakfast of French toast and coffee and hot chocolate and so many other wonderful things. I do not know if she knew we were struggling or not, but I can’t think about that morning without getting choked up.
One year when we were renting a 40-stall barn and switching it to milk 80 cows, our youngest was about 9 months old. She had been woken up early to the other three kids’ delighted screams of Santa having visited, and she would not tolerate being put down so we could finish milking. At the time, the milkman would come and empty the tank while we switched the cows so there would be room for the second group’s milk. On that Christmas Day, he served as a surrogate grandpa and held on to our daughter so we could finish chores. I’ll always be grateful for his help that morning.
This year, my husband is serving as a milkman, and Christmas morning will find him behind the wheel of the truck. I might remind him of that day just in case he sees any families struggling to get through chores this year.
Even though the situation seems to change every year, which makes traditions hard to maintain, I have fond memories to keep us warm this Christmas. Whatever we do, the important part is doing it together.