Husband has quirky Christmas habits

My husband really, really likes Christmas.

I read an old column of mine about some of his traditions, and they haven’t changed. In fact, they’re more entrenched.

Starting right after Thanksgiving, he gets out the Christmas mugs and dishes. If I grab a nonholiday plate, he questions why. We are required to use those Christmas mugs for coffee every morning. He caught me using a plain mug one day, and he gave me a stern look.

“If you don’t use a Christmas mug, I’m going to have to revoke your Christmas privileges,” he said.

I’m not sure what those privileges are, but I don’t want to lose them.

He buys peppermint ice cream only this time of year, and you can find a cartoon of eggnog in our refrigerator in December. I don’t like it, so he gets to have it all to himself.

His family tradition is to make a type of cookie called Oriental crunch this time of year, and only this time of year, although there is nothing particularly Christmasy about it. It is addictive and adds to the holiday weight gain, though.

The radio station in our vehicles MUST be tuned to stations that play all Christmas music. I’m fine with that, but when some of the annoying songs come on (like “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas”), I turn down the volume.

We have our checklist of Christmas movies to watch, including Elf, It’s a Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street and three versions of A Christmas Carol. He watches and quotes Ebenezer Scrooge, along with whatever actor is playing him. My husband’s favorite is the 1951 version, but he will settle for any of them.

My husband pulls out his Christmas socks starting the day after Thanksgiving (on which he wears his ham socks). He has holiday-themed socks with reindeer, wreaths, Christmas lights and a Yeti on them (the abominable snowman, not the popular cooler). His newest pair are ones I bought this year with a design of a shark wearing a Santa hat — Santa Jaws.

The college students he teaches seem to appreciate his socks and comment on them. He has about a dozen pairs; my goal is for him to have 25, one for every day of December till Christmas.

He is known to wear his Santa hat with his robe in the morning, while he sits to watch football or grade papers.

We have a deal — I shop; he wraps. He’s better at it than I am, especially on oddly shaped presents. He loves a wrapping challenge.

The part where we disagree is the method. He is against ever buying a box. We save boxes through the year, but I just flat-out refuse to use some. I don’t like buying a nice shirt for someone and have him cram it into a Great Value spaghetti box.

I got out a new tube of toothpaste the other night, and he grabbed the empty box gleefully. “Ooh, good, another box to wrap in!”

As long as he doesn’t complain when the credit-card bills come in January, all his quirks are fine with me.

Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.

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