The Christmas Boots

I know it's a few days after Christmas, but as we're all putting away our decorations, and sending out the Thank You cards, I've been wondering if others have fun, special, different traditions than the norm. Dave and I have a special tradition for us, that doesn't make much sense to others, but it's ours, so who cares, right?! :o)

It all started 4 Christmases ago when we found ourselves transplanted to a different country with nary a Christmas decoration to be found amongst all the boxes. Dave didn't even start shopping until Christmas Eve, and sadly (for me?) learned that all the shops in England close on Christmas Eve at 3:00 pm. He'd started driving at about 12:00...so he was quite surprised, and his creativity was more severely challenged than normal. It was about that same time that I decided to start decorating for Christmas. And long about 1:00 that I discovered that all we had was one roll of wrapping paper, a gold-and-silver tree skirt, and one strand of (US plug) twinkle lights. Needless to say, my creativity was severely challenged as well! In a very strange decorating decision, the owners of the house we were renting had decided to paint the bricks on the fireplace wall metallic gold. Yes, your visual is correct. The entire wall, floor to ceiling was shiny gold. I had never really appreciated it until it became part of my Christmas decorations! I draped the tree skirt from the mantle, plugged the lights into a power-converting transformer, and draped them around the wall and mantle, and decorated the top of the mantle with the Christmas cards we had received. It isn't my proudest decorating moment, but sometimes you just gotta make do.

Dave finally made it home, and was pleasantly surprised by my decorating prowess. (hah!) I had already wrapped his gifts, and started a fire, so all that was left was for him to wrap his gifts for me. (with what was left of our one roll of paper!) I handed him the scissors and tape, and went into the kitchen to make dinner. After a while, he came in and asked about stockings.

Stockings! Right! Dang!

We discussed our options, and a pair of his gym socks were highest on the list. I didn't like that so much because, well, I knew they were clean, but gym socks are just not as voluminous as stockings are...and I was hoping for some good Stocking Stuffer Volume! :o) I suggested we just wrap the stocking stuffers up and put them on the floor with the other gifts. He didn't like that idea because he had so many, and doesn't like to wrap that much. Oh. Okay then. Well...what's left?

What's left? Well, a pair of Wellington boots, that's what! Some call them "swampers," or "wellies." They're just tall rain boots, but to us, they were The Answer! But I wasn't content to put them as-is under the fabulously decorated golden wall of Christmasness...so we each grabbed a boot, and wrapped each boot with wrapping paper! We went in later to fill the other's boot with the Boot Loot, as it were...and were both pleasantly surprised the next day.

Did I mention that Dave did all his shopping that year (ALL, I tell ya), at two different grocery stores? Yup. Sweet. Gotta love his forward planning! I think I got 3 umbrellas (it was England, after all), a toaster, and a George Foreman grill that I love-love-loved. Oh, and every kind of candy Tesco had left.

Needless to say, we both really liked the Christmas Boots idea, and it has been a fixture in our Christmases ever since. We had guests the next Christmas, and made them decorate their boots, too. Last year we spent Christmas in Stratford-Upon-Avon...and hauled our boots with us. This year, we were in Michigan, but didn't take our wellies along. We decided to use snow boots instead. :-( They are not nearly as voluminous as wellies, let me tell you! Both Dave and I were disappointed in the Boot Loot capacity of snow boots. Dave's dad offered his "swampers" (size 15...serious Boot Loot capacity, there!)...but that was late on Christmas morning after we had already attacked our Christmas boots for this year. Next year, we'll have to figure out a way to have the boots with us - wherever we are! And we'll have a boot for the baby, too. Something tells me we'll probably need a Size 15 boot for that all that Boot Loot! :o)

SO...now that you've read my long, and boring story about candy and toothbrushes in stinky boots...what's your homegrown Christmas tradition?

Our 2007 Boots: