Yesterday we got to spend Thanksgiving with some sweet friends of ours – Paige and Greg, Paige’s parents and grandmother, and a couple other aviators. It was low-key and relaxing, and we all just hung out and chatted and ate good food. It’s really comforting to have good friends nearby when we’re so far from family.
Today we cleaned the house (mostly), gathered things to donate to Goodwill, and set up our little fake Christmas tree and a few other holiday decorations. When we were finished decorating, I made some hot cocoa (milk, cocoa, sugar, and a bit of instant coffee heated in a double boiler) and we sipped it together until Anneliese got sleepy. Then the guy changed her diaper, bundled her up, and I nursed her to sleep.
(I got a bit of reflection of the lights, I think from the filter I keep on the lens to protect it. Oh well… looks like sparkly magic to me!)
I’ve been thinking about holiday traditions a bit. For the first couple years we were married (and the year before we were married), the Guy and I made a huge batch of gingerbread cookies and mailed them to our families and friends. Now that we’re grain-free I don’t anticipate continuing that. And that’s okay.
I’m not sure what will end up being in our holiday tradition repertoire. I asked T what he thought, and he said, “Well traditions aren’t something you just decide on. They evolve over time.” And how right he is!
What traditions have evolved for your family? Are they things you did when you were little and continued once you had your own children? Are they a mixture of your family’s and your SO’s family’s traditions? Or are they brand new?
I remember…
- Watching The Snowman, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and A Christmas Story after Thanksgiving dinner.
- Going to find the perfect tree at Toogoodoo Farm (With Toogie the talking Christmas tree, and hot cocoa).
- My sisters and I each having our own small (fake) tree for our bedrooms, and taking turns choosing ornaments for our own trees. (And hanging the beautiful glass icicle decorations on the big real tree.)
- Making Zeppole (Italian doughnuts) Christmas morning.
- Forgetting about our stockings while we ate breakfast, then getting surprised and excited when we remembered we still hadn’t unwrapped them.
- Matching nightgowns my mom would make us each Christmas.
- Special dinners for Hanukkah, and getting to have a little bit of wine.
- Playing dreidel in our pajamas.
- A fire in the fireplace.
- Bundling up in our pajamas and driving around to see Christmas lights while listening to whatever radio station was playing holiday music.
I asked my husband for a few memories, and this is what he told me:
- Seafood spaghetti on Christmas Eve.
- Opening stockings over breakfast, then opening presents.
- Venison roast for Christmas dinner.
- Singing the Who song (da-who-dores) while cutting down a Christmas tree.
- Mom putting lights on the tree, then decorating it with his siblings. Then Mom would drape beads on the tree (so the kids wouldn’t break grandma’s glass beads) and Dad put the star on the top.
I'm a Navy wife and stay at home mom of two beautiful children. I cook simple, delicious, grain-free recipes, do crafts, decorate my home on a budget, and keep a happy household. I tandem breastfeed, babywear, cloth diaper, practice elimination communication, homebirth, and co-sleep, but I'm not a hippie.
I grew up in USSR, so our “Christmas” was a weird mixture of traditions, since religious holidays technically weren’t allowed. We had “Father Frost” instead of Santa Claus, the “New Year” tree was crowned with a glowing red Communist star, you get the picture. And we celebrated on New Year’s eve, instead of the real Christmas eve. But it was nevertheless magical. I remember the huge glimmering tree (in retrospect, it probably only seemed huge because I was so little). I remember helping mom pick out some new ornaments each year, and decorating. I remember lots of festively-dressed people crammed into our apartment, the smells of delicious food. The lights “suddenly” shutting off (with my mom’s help), and when they just as suddenly came back on, poof! – there was a huge bag of presents under the tree for my sister and I. We would always run to the door hoping to catch Father Frost sneaking out! And I remember sparklers. I love sparklers. We always had to go to bed by 10pm on NYE, but at midnight my mom would come into our room and kiss us on the forehead after the adults raised a toast to the New Year in the dining room. I only hope that I can make similar great Christmas memories and traditions for my kids some day.
My family on my Dad’s side celebrates Kwanzaa together. How it started: when I was in high school, my grandfather passed away. He was definitely the center of our family, and it was a particularly huge blow for my Dad and his 6 brothers and sisters. The idea for celebrating Kwanzaa came about as a way to get all of the kids, grandkids, and great grandkids together at least once a year, without interfering with Christmas celebrations that most of us want to spend with our individual family units. We have a small Kwanzaa ceremony where someone from each family unit reads something about the principal, while another person lights the candle. There’s a big emphasis on involving the youngest and newest family members, as well as highlighting everyone’s accomplishments for the year. After that, it’s all about food and catching up. We started out doing it every year, but now we average every two. I always look forward to it!
We don’t have a tree, we need to get one. I wonder how Ian will react to it.
I grew up in the same family as you did… but I additionally remember that for several years our parents would buy or make a single ornament that was representative of the year somehow — there was an old fashioned looking stove for when they remodeled the kitchen, plus of course baby ones for each year a baby was born (like a painted baby shoe or spoon). Reed and I started this one ourselves! Then when you go to decorate the tree, you also get a little trip down memory lane. I also remember Christmas Eve consomme. And also, um, where were my gingerbread cookies???
how cool! I don’t remember that. Did it have the year on it somewhere too so memories wouldn’t get mixed up?
mmm.
And yes, Christmas eve consomme.
I think we just brought cookies to parents’ houses to share, since we were going in person. We made them for Mama B and stuff too… so you probably ate some but just didn’t remember since they weren’t mailed to your house in PA. I think we did it 3 years?
hmm – you played dreidel?
what rules? I have a no limit texas dreidel game… 
I”m jewish – so i’ll be using my oil candles in my plumbing fixture menorah next week, and we have a nice olive wood dreidl for Mikki…
And then we try to do xmas for my Hubby… this year we’re travelling to his family. Since chanukah is a relatively minor holiday, we didn’t have whole lot of ‘set’ traditions we followed other than using the menorah.
I don’t really remember any specific rules… we played with pennies though, or those chocolate coins. And we thought it was fun to spin the dreidel upside-down (on the handle part). haha.
Growing up, we had several traditions. One of my parents would always read ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas aloud on Christmas Eve, and eventually I (as the oldest) took over reading to my siblings. I might pick that one up for my son. We always decorated the tree together, advent calendars most years, and every year us kids would shake and guess at gifts while my parents tortured us by insisting on shower and breakfast before any presents could be unwrapped. (Now that I’m an adult I understand this! Especially with so many photos on Christmas morning.)
This year my son is only going to be 3 months old, but he does love looking at lights, so we’ll be going all out with a tree and lights. A friend and I just decided we want to get together to make wreaths and I’d love to do more crafts. For the most part your husband is right that traditions just develop and can’t be forced too much. As for movies, my favorites are How the Grinch Stole Christmas (the original animated version only!) & National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation!
Aside: I really want some freaking peanut brittle this year!
Janine recently posted… Look of the Day Thanksgiving 2010
We get the whole family together at my parents’ house on Christmas eve and exchange gifts. Lots of cookies and sweets (for the CW family.) Eggnog and Christmas cartoons.
My little sis and I stay the night (the rest of the families go home.) It’s always been tradition that on Christmas day you could have your stocking before breakfast, but you had to eat breakfast before any gifts are opened.
It’s strange to see how our traditions have evolved as we’ve all gotten older.
Let’s see…
-candy and goodies in our stockings
-putting up the tree the day after Thanksgiving (while eating leftovers)
-baking christmas goodies with my mom the week before
-taking turns over who puts the star on the tree
Apple recently posted… A little birdie
Traditions from when I and my husband were children that we now do with our children:
-look at Christmas lights on Christmas Eve
- new jammies on Christmas Eve
- Christmas custard (this recipe has been in the family for about 100 years)
New traditions:
- Church on Christmas eve
- Family gathering at our house before church
- Baking a “Happy Birthday Jesus” cake and leaving a slice for Santa
- Going to see the national Christmas tree
I love Christmas traditions! We’ve done a mix in our few Christmases together. We’ve kept my family’s tradition of opening Christmas PJs on Christmas Eve, for instance. We also go out driving to see Christmas lights on Christmas Eve: a new tradition that we started. We modified my family’s tradition of cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning with gluten-free cinnamon rolls, read the Christmas story on Christmas morning per my husband’s family, and are still trying to decide on a proper Christmas Eve dinner. My husband’s family fries fish on Christmas Eve but we can’t do that any more because of celiac. I look forward to seeing what other traditions we develop over time!
MarfMom recently posted… My Baby Clothes Boutique Giveaway
Being a military brat, now wife, traditions mean the WORLD to me! We have some special things we did growing up that will continue… Such as opening gifts on Christmas Eve after church. I did it. He did it. Its just what we all do.
We created some traditions ourselves too… Growing up in various cultures was a blast, but I sometimes wondered where MY heritage lied… Where MY cultural remembrances were. I try to incorporate some Scandinavian culture, design, food into our traditions, such as noting St Lucia on December 13 with a uniquely Swedish meal. It’s a culture we share in common as a couple and one that means the world to me to share with my new, someday to grow family.
Tiffany recently posted… Reviving a Lost Art
Every year since we have been married we include our dogs in a family photo of sorts to put on the cards we send out. The best part is that we wind up with 30-40 photos of total chaos for one good one that we can use.
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