- December 20, 2024
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Holiday traditions, new or old, require a bit of active participation.
BY EMILY BLACKWOOD | STAFF WRITER
Christmas is a time of involuntary involvement.
Whether you’re making multiple trips to the grocery store or attempting to find the most embarrassing gift for your little brother, a successful holiday season requires an extra dose of effort.
Lucky for me, my family’s Christmas traditions have remained steadily the same. So my extra effort never grew past wrapping my own presents. However, things are shaking up up this year.
As a newbie of Ormond Beach, I didn’t see myself participating in any Christmas events that weren’t required of my job as staff writer for the Observer. I mean, I barely attended my hometown’s annual tree-lighting, due to the classic excuses of traffic and holiday movie marathons.
But my passive holiday ways came to a screeching halt when I discovered that the Observer was participating in the annual ‘Home for the Holidays’ parade.
I was 8 the last time I was in a parade. Dressed up as Sleeping Beauty, I got to throw candy at the common folk of Jeffersontown, Kentucky.
I didn’t think anything could top that.
But then I was told we were dressing up as Sugar Plum Fairies from the Nutcracker, and our costumes included hot pink, light-up tutus.
Sleeping Beauty only had a cheap tiara.
When we got to the parade, the Ormond Beach Observer girls were basically celebrities to the female, under-12 crowd.
“Are you real fairies?” one adorable girl asked our advertising manager, Jaclyn. She reassured the girl of our magical existence.
Jaclyn may have gotten a little too into character, though, because she refused to take off her tutu even after the parade was over and we went to La Fiesta.
Our publisher, John Walsh, surrendered his truck up as a float. I’m pretty sure he’s still cleaning glitter out of the backseat.
We attempted to blast music from the Nutcracker throughout the parade but we were hushed by the rapping Christmas carolers in front of us. And though our well-rehearsed dance was canceled when the rain started to pour, the fairies continued to spread holiday cheer.
Well, all of us except Michelle, an ad rep, and me. We dove into the back of the car, convinced that fairies can melt. All in all, though, the parade was a success.
A part of me hoped that would be the extent of my Christmas participation, but oh, not even close.
My lovely mother decided that since I’m “a big girl now” (Ha! Shows what she knows: I ate cookies for dinner last night) I shouldn’t sign my name on any of the presents she’s purchased this year.
Bah humbug.
Thankfully, I don’t have to dig too deep in my wallet to buy presents for everyone this year. For the first time, the Blackwoods are doing a White Elephant gift exchange. Of course this means a lack of the Starbucks gift cards I was really counting on, but at least my present limit this year is under $25.
But there is one catch. The gift has to come from a restaurant that my family frequently visited in my childhood on our numerous road trips: Cracker Barrel.
Now I’ve had an overload of country cooking, and I just can’t take anymore. If I want “home-style cooking” I’ll go to my mother’s house where the food is free and I’m not forced to play checkers.
Actually, do they sell Starbucks gift cards at Cracker Barrel? Maybe this gift exchange can be rigged after all.
