Non-Traditional

Gone are the days of the cheap plastic snowman on the front porch, faded orange lights in the windows made to look like candles, the boxes and boxes of meaningless Hallmark collectable ornaments, and the extra creepy angel with bed head that topped our tree.  It was all very materialistic for the most part.  Christmas still has plenty of meaning without these things.

Since high school, fall and winter holidays were more about spending quality time with friends and coaches.  Commiting yourself to a sport, specifically basketball, meant that these holidays fell right into a big holiday tournament or the tune-up games before conference play started (the games that really count).   As a collegiate coach, holiday tournaments were the optimal recruiting tool; which meant hitting the road to see as many players as possible before the team returned to campus.

In college, I learned to appreciate the non-traditional holiday festivities.  One year I was stuck on campus due to really large chick from Trinity University clocking me in the eye.  My vision was so blurred, I was unable to make the three hour drive home.  A teammate invited me to her apartment, where her parents delivered some of the best homemade South Texas food I have ever had.  Being stuck in Gettysburg, Pa during grad school, I enjoyed a traditional meal with my roommate's girlfriend (now wife) and her family, and then traveled back to G-Burg to see Toy Story at the movie theater.  A movie?? Unheard of in my family.

And gifts...well, I always got loads of crap for Christmas, nothing memorable, with the exception of the one present I received from my grandparents every year.  They worked hard for every dime they earned, and the fact that they would save up to spend money on me, well, it made every gift special.  The year that my grandfather declared that my bike from Santa was the hardest thing to put together still makes me smile...Santa delivered it built.  The only other thing I truly enjoyed was hanging the house lights with my dad.  It was the one on one time, once a year, that I cherished...especially since it was a rarity.

Now days, the tree, collectable ornaments, and lights stay packed away in the attic.  As long as I have the one person that means the world to me by my side, and the zoo of animals, I don't need all those other things.  And I don't need a specific holiday to appreciate what I have.  In the last eleven years, every holiday has been different...from cooking a turkey on an open fire at the Frio River and making a tree out of beer caps, to eating tamales at the lake house and smoking a Liga cigar, to doing absolutely nothing.  Each and every holiday is just as special as the last...no decorations required.