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JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: There’s much talk, this time of year, about traditions. And why not? The traditions we hold to year after year are a vital part of making the holidays what they are. Unlike other events, we don’t crave novelty or uniqueness; we want the same decorations, the same songs, the same people. Even if you don’t particularly like Aunt Millie’s green bean casserole, you still make it. Even though your mother-in-law drives you bonkers, you still drive two hours to spend the day at her house.
But, as author coach Becca Syme likes to say, what if you… didn’t?
As timeless as they seem, our holiday observances have to change over the years. We get married and have to accommodate our spouse’s dumb traditions along with our own beautiful and meaningful ones. We move out of state, and for some reason, Mom isn’t as interested in cleaning and cooking for us and our sisters and our cousins and our aunts (our sisters and our cousins, who number in the dozens!) The ice dancing show we always took the kids to now costs - are you kidding me? A hundred bucks per ticket?
Then there are the traditions you kick to the curb because you realize the work isn’t worth the payoff. I stopped making Christmas cookies the year I found myself sobbing in the kitchen at 2am, taking batch after 
batch of confections out of the oven. My kids and my husband would much rather have those white-chocolate-covered Oreos they put out this time of year; why was I killing myself over pfeffernusse?
Or wrapping presents with fancy paper and bows and ribbons. Yes, it looks pretty, but you know who doesn’t care? Everyone else in the house except you. That paper is like Gypsy Rose Lee’s costumes: it’s 
just an impediment to the good stuff underneath. I, myself, switched to bags and tissue paper; now not only super easy - pop the present in, cover it with tissue, tie the handles with a bit of ribbon if you don’t trust the recipient not to peek - but I also get to bask in the glow of righteous eco-saving, since they get reused over and over and over again.
The latest tradition that I suspect is about to disappear? Our Christmas Day dinners for twenty to forty. Obviously, we put this on hold during the pandemic, but in the years since 2020, there have been changes besides masking and hand sanitizer. Many of the now-adult kids of the families who would come have moved out of state, and our former guests are making their own decisions on where to spend the holidays. Some friends are less than enthused about being indoors in winter crowded together with people who, lets face it, could be carrying God-knows what kinds of germs.
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| One of THREE tables for the big parties! |
Most importantly, I've realized the sheer amount of work I need to do when I don’t have a husband and willing teens/college kids to pitch in. Thanksgiving dinner for seven felt like a LOT. It took me two days to clean up, and we didn’t even have any wine glasses to wash. (Sober celebration for the win!) Youngest really wants to resume the huge get-togethers, but I couldn’t help but notice that as I carried in plates and platters from the dining room and sorted napkins to be laundered, she sat in front of the fire and scrolled on her phone.
This year, we’re only doing six for Christmas, and I feel fine with that. I’m thinking I can wait until Youngest has her own large house with lots of space, and let her resume the enormous dinner party tradition. I’ll be happy to show up with a dish and a smile, and leave all the rest of the toil and trouble to her. I might even bring Aunt Millie’s green bean casserole.
How about you, dear readers?
This is so true . . . traditions change despite our sometimes-desires to keep them the same.
ReplyDeleteI bake cookies because I like baking cookies for the holiday; I use gift bags because, as you've discovered, it's a whole lot easier and the recipients don't mind a bit. I'd cook dinner for however many were able to come, but the reality is, out of state is sometimes too far away and, over the years, many are no longer with us so fewer people sit around the dinner table.
But we still get angels from the angel tree [this year, a homeless toddler and his family], we still gather for the Christmas Eve Candlelight service, and we still celebrate in our own special ways . . . .
We celebrated for years with a potluck dinner with our godfamily, although either the daughter or daughter-in-law hosted it. There were usually about 13 or so, but everyone pitched in to help with the clean-up, and everyone brought a dish except for the main one, which varied from salmon, to turkey, to roasted something. Luckily, because of so many dishes, it was never a problem for us vegetarians/pescadarians. We'd all arive early and have munchies and champagne and chat until an early dinner time. Of course, in Portugal, we miss all that, but are holding up our end of the potluck on Xmas Day: veggies, pilaf, and samosas, and a champagne toast to our far away god family. We have had to reduce other aspects, though. I used to be an avid Xmas card sender. I loved filling out the cards, since for the most part, during the year, I didn't write many letters. Now, it's all e-cards - but I'm grateful for that contact. And some Skype and WhatsApp calls. (Xmas is one of the times I love technology!)
ReplyDeleteHi Mitty! Merry Christmas. I have to confess I miss your wonderful Christmas cards, but since I no longer send them either, I cannot complain!
DeleteThe holidays have become minimalistic since it's just me, however, I do prepare a little dinner for one, play Christmas music, have my little paper trees scattered in my living room and find a nice movie to watch.
ReplyDeleteI've certainly scaled down the traditions, and Christmas has never been a huge gathering time for us. I try to do only the traditions I love - the candles in the windows, the crazy creche, the cookies, all my mother's beautiful quilted decorations and tree skirt. Today is baking day! And even when Christmas Day is only Hugh and me, we always have a nice breakfast with bacon and pastries and mimosas, then something special for dinner. I'm thinking rack of lamb this year.
ReplyDeleteOver the years, we've developed a few little "odd" traditions that I still cling to. Potato soup for Christmas Eve dinner originated because we used to have several stops that night and didn't want to go on an empty stomach resulting in eating too many cookies. My mom started having pizza for lunch on Christmas Day before we all headed to my brother's family's home for dinner. I'm still doing the potato soup although we now stay home on Christmas Eve. And I'm fixing flatbread pizzas for lunch on Christmas Day before heading out to my niece's home for dinner with my roasted veggie dish.
ReplyDeleteAnd I love those gift bags!
There are no traditions left here. Both our kids live in other states with their families now. Many of our friends and family are no longer around. Hanukah is over. We were just laughing about Chinese dinner and a movie which was our "Christmas tradition " when we were young. I think that for us, next week will be like any other week.
ReplyDeleteMerry, merry Christmas, Everyone. Celebrate in good health!
I am an only child and was a Navy brat so we were almost always far from any family at Christmas and it was just the parents and me. At the time I thought it was lonely b/c I was comparing it to all the big noisy family dinners I saw in movies and tv shows. My parents always liked it b/c they weren't particularly close to their families (no formal estrangement, but definitely not close!) and living a continent away was just about perfect. ;-)
ReplyDeleteBut we've taken on the tradition without meaning to. We have two boys, not one child, but we live far from family and with my older son on the spectrum keeping Christmas at home , simple, with no company really works best. And surprisingly, I find I like it! It's nice to have the presents excitement in the morning with lots of time to wind down and peace and quiet afterwards.
We do have some other traditions but I try not to cling too tightly to any of them. A nearby winter light show, maybe the train display in the US botanical gardens. We all agreed this year we wanted a break from seeing the Christmas Carol at Ford's Theater and maybe would try it again in a year or two if we feel like it. Panettone french toast (very rich). Cookies (b/c I like making them!). We used to do Chinese food for Christmas Eve but we had to part ways with our regular place, so I don't know what will do this year. My brother-in-law gave us Chicago deep dish pizzas for Christmas so maybe one of those. We do usually do a fancy Christmas day dinner, but that's b/c my husband likes cooking, so we don't have to please anyone but ourselves. Not even our children, they'll probably have Cheerios! Although my carnivore son will probably try the duck.
Like JILL, I am an only child so it was just me and my parents celebrating Christmas in Toronto. The best Christmas gifts I remember getting were in the holiday parcels shipped by my Japanese relatives (I mentioned the battery-operated Godzilla doll in an earlier post). But my surviving grandparents all died in 1980, so that tradition ended when I was a teenager.
ReplyDeleteSince it's just me in Ottawa, I don't do much tradition except food. I bake the same chocolate crinkle cookies and almond stollen with marzipan that I have done for over 30 years. When I do cook turkey, I use my late mom's sausage-bread stuffing recipe. And I also am a rare lover of fruitcake and fruited bread. So I bought 3 dark fruitcases (2 in Ottawa, 1 from Montreal) & a panettone (dark chocolate & pear from Montreal) to enjoy over the holidays.
Julia, yeah why were you killing yourself over pfeffernusse? I don't bake cookies but I know that I do look forward to the Stauffers brand holiday shortbread cookies that come in the green bag each year. Those things are like crack to me. So delicious.
ReplyDeleteMy mom did all the decorating. I do none.
The big extended family gathering that happened on Xmas Eve at my grandparents house? As my grandfather passed and my grandmother got older, my aunt took it over. But then seven or eight years ago now, it started becoming too much for her (along with some family drama) and she ended the tradition. I miss it but even if she had kept it going, it wouldn't have happened the last three years anyway.
I still get a big dinner but it is with less people. I go to my sister's house where it is her and her husband (and their dog Wilson, can't forget him) plus me and my friend Ann.
I wrap gifts but we're not talking precision commercial ready wrapping jobs here or anything.
Traditions are fine and if people are willing to keep them going, more power to them. But when it becomes more of a hassle than a joy, their passing is inevitable.
Tradition, schmadition. My nomadic kids, except for the Michigan one, don't give a fig for replicating family times with the same old, same old. The one up north, though--everything is a "tradition": mimosas and Pillsbury's cinnamon rolls (not the best combo, but hey, tradition), and present gifting in pajamas. A massive feast they spend all day cooking. In their pajamas. My favorite tradition on Christmas is having each gift opened separately, so everyone can see and appreciate.
ReplyDeleteThis year the apple cart is upset, and their friends who usually come up from SC to celebrate with us and to ski are staying south, so we are hosting for the first time in ages. I am reviving my own tradition of Christmas lunch of rosemary and garlic-scented pork loin with dried fruit. Two side dishes, a salad from my garden, and a pie. Festive, elegant, and way easier than turkey and fixin's. We are including our "orphan" friends next-door, who have been part of our family for 35 years.
I'm happy to hear so many of you are flexible about traditions--mostly we have no choice because things change. We either embrace the change or fight it!
ReplyDeleteMy mom was great for trying something new and if she liked the result, we might do it again next year--or not, depending on whether she wanted to do it. I remember an elegant plum pudding one year, served in a beautiful cut-glass dish. "Too much work," she decided. So never happened again. What she did enjoy was a house full of people and lots of food. As we got older, everyone pitched in with the cleaning, the cooking, and the clean-up after.
ReplyDeleteI'm fine with low-key. Last year I really enjoyed my tree, all decorated and everything. This year, I decided to forego the decorations because of our newest cat--he's young and has more energy than 14 cats. I didn't want to spend the holiday trying to save ornaments, keep him out of the tree, etc. So, tree is up and the lights are twinkling and I'm fine with that, especially since they are reflected on the snow outside. And oddly enough, Bagheera (aka Mr. Menace) hasn't shown the slightest interest in the tree--yet!
Did you attach the tree to the ceiling, Flora? That's what we used to do with young cats, so they couldn't possibly pull it over!
DeleteHe is confounding me--totally ignoring the tree! But I'm still not putting any decorations on it. :-) No way to attach to the ceiling--I'm more worried about fragile ornaments being knocked off by someone climbing IN the tree or up it, that I am about it falling over.
DeletePresents – in a bag - NOOOOOO! I hate them – am I coming across too strong here? To me they reflect that you didn’t take the effort to really think about it. If you want my present to be in a bag, just give the grocery store bag – see, no tissue paper needed.
ReplyDeleteMy mother and I would check every parcel under the tree (this was before bags) and comment on the paper, the wrapping, the ribbons (or lack there-of), the use of the same paper by another wrapper or another shaped parcel, just everything about it. There was often a shout out to each other on Christmas morning – “found the ugliest one”. This of course did not reflect on the gift, just the wrapping.
All presents that you get from me will be wrapped and in a box. Often the box has been recycled for years, wherein you will get socks in the steam iron box first presented in 1970 – it probably had my mother’s baby-doll pajamas in it the 2nd time through. Everyone knows that the box does not reflect the gift inside, and always save the box. My wrapping no longer has ribbon, though there was a time when I would have rolls and rolls and so many colours of that curling stuff – too many cats, and not enough scissors on Christmas morning to cut the ribbon by older hands.
There was one gift that came from my father to me, but as all of them, was wrapped by my mother. It was irregularly shaped, and as I mauled it daily, it shape-shifted. This was weird. She kept saying you are going to be disappointed. Christmas morning came, and by then it no longer had any resemblance to the original parcel, and may have the better part of a roll of tape holding it together. I held my breath and opened it. It was the ugliest, lamp to go on the headboard of my bed. I mean the ugliest! She found a box for the identical one for my sister so could not find a box for me, so she cobbled together pieces of cardboard to create a shell that held no structure.
See, you could never do that with a bag. Think of all the fun both of us would have missed.
Happy Christmas, may all your gifts come wrapped in love.
MARGO: How is the weather? Did you lose power in the wind storm?
DeleteLast night was breezy, and the power went off for 15 mins - just enough to have to reset everything, but back on in time for a shower & breakfast. NSPower just called to say they are shutting us down for 30 mins after 2 so I am about to shut down computer for once. Weather is a bit breezy but not bad. The window blew open but did not break in the building beside us, so there are all the deck cushions about the house to dry out. The cats love it! Damp but not really rain, but now they are promising a major deluge for tomorrow. It is book Club Christmas Party with a horrible book to review. I hate driving in the rain (it is a 20 min drive), and wonder if I can sweet talk the harrumper into driving me...
DeleteMeanwhile I think I will do the jigsaw puzzle this afternoon. Thanks for asking. I wonder how Maine is doing?
I follow Maine author Bruce Robert Coffin on FB. He's been using a generator since last night and said that 1/4 of the state was without power.
DeleteJulia, I can understand you wanting to make pfeffernusse, because that was part of my childhood Christmas tradition, but I can also imagine crying over it at 2 AM. We really take on too much, don't we? I remember one year I made so many things, that I lost track of what was there. Found a loaf of homemade olive bread on top of the refrigerator on top of the fridge in mid-January. What a waste!
ReplyDeleteOver the years, we have gone from everyone exchanging gifts to drawing a name to stocking stuffers. Low key is fine! I'm hosting on Christmas Day, but there will be 6 of us and I plan to do breakfast stuff at whatever time, so it should be pretty easy.
ReplyDeleteTonight I'm having the Nicaraguan family (our church is sponsoring them) over and plan to make a big stew in the crock pot. Eek! 7 people in my little house! My son says he will help host, which is great, because despite studying German and French more recently, his Spanish is still very good.
Humming 'Tradition' from Fiddler on the Roof. Things change each year on Nome Street. Some years no holidays celebrated after Thanksgiving, some years the feasting continues until the Superbowl. Last year we did the 12 days of Christmas feast.. Worked well; it took that long for 2 people to consume a 30 lb turkey. This year it will be the ice cream social that I mentioned yesterday. When I worked retail, I was assigned package wrapping. That was fun, because my family started the paper bag option when I was in high school. Who knows? Maybe that tradition started in Seattle. I have always enjoyed looking at holiday lights, and finally with a good car, Amy and I will be indulging on Christmas eve. Some years I would binge on Hallmark movies. This year it will be streaming Riverdale, a television show that broke so many soap opera tropes it was a wonder the actors could perform without breaking character.
ReplyDeleteI was just advised that cocoa powder was added to a shopping list. We have the hard Starbright mints. Ergo, peppermint brownies will be made. Happy and Merry countdown my friends. Enjoy our time together.
Have a wonderful time driving around to see the lights, Coralee! Sounds like a perfect activity for this year.
DeleteOne tradition my daughter has kept alive is Christmas Caroling. My mother started it back in the 1960's. She had an old smallish pump organ (probably a garage sale find) and she & a neighbor friend got together and invited a bunch of the neighbors to come over in the evening for deserts and drinks. Then my father rolled out the pump organ on a dollie and we went around the neighborhood knocking on doors (we kids loved doing that). When my parents passed away my daughter was telling her friend about the caroling party. Her friend (who is a pianist - said that's great where is the pump organ? We got it out of storage and viola!...the tradition continues today - some 60 years later.
ReplyDeleteHow wonderful!
DeleteThe only "tradition" left are cookies. I still bake them. And despite The Boy insisting he and The Very Nice Girlfriend are going to help, I suspect I'll be rolling, cutting, and frosting sugar cookies myself this evening. That's the one I should put my foot down. I'm not doing it unless I get help.
ReplyDeleteAs relatives got older and less willing to travel, the big dinners downsized. For Thanksgiving we only do a turkey breast. Christmas will be a pasta dish with garlic bread. No more giant roasts with half a dozen side dishes. The kids may (or may not) bring their SO's. We'll see. I am making chocolate cream pie this year but that's because *I* want pie!
I do still wrap the (few) presents we buy. The Boy has gotten into the ribbons and bows. He's more than welcome. I do say the presents look very pretty under the tree.
Christmas eve is my special family dinner. A fancy ham, and I did find a recipe for sweet potatoes and apples (in The Joy of Cooking, of course) and will report back on whether it stacks up to the dish I remember. Deviled eggs are a must. Sparkling cider and prosecco... and beer for my son in law who barely drinks and never wine. And I approve of reusing gift bags with tissue paper...
ReplyDeletei once went a little too far eco-wise and wrapped presents in newspaper and pasted a cutout from a magazine of a bow on top. Not very festive. Plus it was a whole lot of work.
All Birthday presents in this house are wrapped in newspaper. Even the grandkids (5 & 6) recognize it as from Gran!
DeleteMy mom would use the Sunday funny papers! We (hubby and I) did that for family gifts, until we stopped getting a paper! — Pat S
DeleteThough we love Christmas, we stopped buying Christmas tree every year since we have to take the tree out by the 31st of December for it to be picked up for recycling / mulch. I think that is the only tradition that we stopped doing.
ReplyDeleteThat is a big tradition that we stopped going. There are several New Traditions that I love doing like the Icelandic tradition, which I mentioned in earlier posts here on JRW. New favorite cookie is gingerbread cookie. Love baking gingerbread cookies. I think I found a recipe for gingerbread cookies.
Giftwrapping books is part of the Christmas fun. I love to save pretty Christmas gift wrapping from gifts that I receive and use the paper as base for Holiday photos. A friend has these beautiful photo frames with Christmas gift wrap and holiday photos.
Instead of throwing away gift wrap, I like to repurpose them.
Love writing Christmas cards and sending them to family and friends so they know I am thinking of them. It means I have to keep my cards organized with the Christmas stamps so that I find them easily.
Diana
Instant pot gingerbread cake here on Nome Street. Might be my birthday cake this year. Thanks for the reminder, Diana
DeleteMy daughter says she's going to make instant pot sticky toffee pudding!
DeleteYears ago I started wrapping gifts with brown paper and crocheted multicolored chains for the ribbon. There are no extended family gatherings now but I do have some extra long crocheted ribbons that I use as the ribbon for my wreath. My sister's tradition is no traditions so I'll arrive on Christmas day.to a new something, I'm sure. The years I don't travel are quiet with only me. My one tradition is to turn off my alarm clock.
ReplyDeleteIn Toronto when our daughter was young, Christmas Eve we always watched Christmas movies, (the old Christmas Carol with Alistair Sim) and before bedtime we played a tape of A Child's Christmas in Wales, narrated by Dylan Thomas himself, followed by Carols sung from King's College. Christmas Day we had turkey and trimmings with family. (I got a free turkey from work.) We alternated between three homes each year and your year, you did all the work yourself. That's all changed as we spend the winter away and miss our daughter and her family, but we FaceTime on Christmas Day. I use bags for gifts and sadly don't send Christmas cards any more... :-( (Joyce W.)
ReplyDeleteI grew up in a family with few Christmas traditions -- basically just a lot of Christmas baking plus everyone opening presents one at a time on Christmas morning. As we were raising our only son, we enjoyed the baking but I never took it on, as my mom and sister generated so many sweets already. (The baking waned and has been nonexistent this year.) My mom passed several years ago, my sister is in the early stages of dementia, and my son is moving to Japan after the first of the year, so I anticipate this will be the last Christmas morning that bears any resemblance to what I have known in the past.
ReplyDeleteHowever, my husband and I have sung in the church choir at a late Christmas Eve Mass for decades, and one of my favorite "new" traditions is how we usually come home from that and pour a stiff eggnog and enjoy it with some munchies (cheeseball, anyone?) while we unwind. I don't see that tradition fading until we are too infirm to sing in a choir.
My husband is from a large Catholic family, and once the kids were grown his mother established a tradition of getting the family together the weekend immediately following Christmas. That has been a joyful observance for my whole 36 years of marriage, and continues today. That gathering tends to run from 20 to 40 attendees. His mother is 96 and growing weaker, and my son asked me wistfully the other day if I thought this tradition would outlive her. I was able to truthfully answer yes, as my husband's only sister has already begun stepping into the role of matriarch, and as long as she steps forward to take the lead in organizing it I believe her brothers and their families will continue to eagerly attend and support her efforts both financially and with elbow grease.
We will have nine for Christmas this year plus a toddler, but I'm not hosting. I suspect a grilling will be the preferred cooking mode. I will supply four pies. Yes for recycled gift bags. Yes for photo Christmas cards. One year I proposed investing in monogrammed cloth tote bags for the presents, instead of gift wrapping. Oh, the shrieks of despair! The wailing! Why was I trying to ruin Christmas? My daughters assumed responsibility for the wrapping by age ten and continue the tradition as adults.
ReplyDeleteWe also have 9 instead of 15 as one family can’t travel. So no crazy bed making and stripping this year. Or planning food for a week! Easy peasy!
ReplyDeleteWe still have our tradition: I bake mince pies and sausage rolls. We pull crackers and wear silly paper crowns. We have tree presents at tea time ( a smaller present supposedly from the tree)
I suppose it feels low key this year after the big family Thanksgiving/ John’s birthday
Since I don't have to write this blog, and since there seem to be so many bakers/cooks, may I suggest that next year we have a cookie exchange. Best cookie and include the recipe.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was growing up, we (my parents and siblings and I) always stayed home for our holiday dinners. Afterwards, we went to visit each set of grandparents for about an hour, got to see aunts, uncles, and cousins, and then we went home.
ReplyDeleteOn Christmas morning, we emptied our stockings before going to church, and when we returned, we opened our actual gifts. As the years went on we eventually switched to opening our gifts on Christmas Eve and waited until morning for the stockings. Of course, when we were older and moving out, things changed somewhat. I live alone and am about 78 miles from the nearest sibling. I usually go to her house for Thanksgiving and Christmas, and then to another sister’s (in another state) for Easter. And of course, Covid changed a lot of our celebrations. And in recent years I’ve lost a sister, my only brother, and a brother-in-law. We’re all still adjusting.
DebRo
I do sometimes miss the big Christmases of my childhood, with aunts and uncles and cousins. My parents always hosted, and I'm sure now that my mother and grandmother must have been exhausted! But even with shrinking families we've kept some of the traditions. Daughter and family come for stockings and Christmas breakfast--bakery croissants, coffee, and mimosas. Then present opening, one at a time. Last year we went to them for Christmas dinner, as they have two ovens (and I don't have to do all the clean up...) but I do miss having Christmas dinner in our dining room. We do crackers and paper hats. The meal changes. Last year we had prime rib; this year my daughter is making a Korean roast pork.
ReplyDeleteI'm hoping to institute a new Christmas Eve tradition. I ordered a quiche from our local bakery. I thought it would nice to have something easy that I didn't have to cook. My ideal Christmas Eve would include watching Love Actually in front of the fire, but I doubt I can browbeat hubby into the movie. I will read A Child's Christmas in Wales, last thing.
You're preaching to the choir, Julia! All of that was semi-wonderful when there were little kids, but now? It's just extra work for us women. I'd rather reminisce about the good ol' days and scale it down for the reality of today.
ReplyDeleteIt's me, Pat D.
DeleteI'm a weirdo. I have never been attached to many traditions. Taking the Hooligans on the Polar Express (an actual train in Williams, AZ - magical!) was one that we did for YEARS, giving them a bell every year to represent the charity they picked to give a donation to was another (we still do that one), but otherwise our holidays have always been rather seat of the pants affairs. Church on Christmas Eve was great until the pandemic and now everyone works on Christmas Eve, so that's no more a big family affair. And we always mixed it up by traveling a few Christmases so there were holidays spent in Massachusetts, Florida, and California, and honestly, those are some of our best memories. So, yeah, I'll be making my peppermint bark this weekend and watching Scrooge (Alistair Sim version) with the Hub on Christmas Eve but that's about it and I am 100% okay with it.
ReplyDeleteI miss the huge Christmas parties that I hosted in the 1990s. I took Thanksgiving week off. Had to, I was cooking for 20 - 40. I worked with several police agencies spread the word that if you were on duty and could grab time to dine, stop by! The first year I hosted, one of my neighbors called in a panic. My house was surrounded by police cars. She wanted to know what happened. We had a great time, no one ever left hungry, and neighbors spread the word, too. Kept the tradition until we moved to Maine.
ReplyDelete" That paper is like Gypsy Rose Lee’s costumes: it’s just an impediment to the good stuff underneath." This wins my award for great lines of the day!!!
ReplyDeleteI grew up with my mother's delicious Christmas dinner as the best tradition. Going to Cincinnati with my sisters and brother and parents and seeing the electronic elves set up in different scenes in the big windows at Shillito's Department Store was always a treat when we were still "children" age. Karen, I know you are familiar with the Shilito's Christmas displays, too. I recently read that the elves have all been brought together again and are on display, but I can't remember where. As we grew up, and my older siblings got married and had children, the pile of presents under the Christmas tree was enormous. Then, I finally added to the husband and kids gifts, too. I will never understand how my mother kept her sanity and fixed enough food for everyone, even having leftovers. Her dressing balls warmed up in her gravy the day after Christmas was and still is my favorite food ever. At some point, we started having Christmas at our own homes but getting together at some point.
ReplyDeleteOne thing my kids and I enjoyed here at our house was making Christmas fudge for Santa and setting a few pieces out for him/me on Christmas Eve. For years we went to my parents-in-law's for Christmas dinner with me taking scalloped oysters and a couple of other dishes or desserts. But, Christmas morning at our house when the kids were kids will always be my favorite memory. Watching them first stop and take in all their presents and then jumping in to enjoy them. I had always just put the presents from Santa out unwrapped. That's how my mother did it, but one Christmas my daughter informed me that they were really supposed to be wrapped. What? Who put this in my daughter's minds. But, I obliged and was often up into the wee hours Christmas morning wrapping presents.
After my father-in-law became sick and then died, Thanksgiving dinner shifted to my house and Christmas dinner to my daughter's. This year, because of our great sadness, everything is a bit subdued. I couldn't do Thanksgiving here, just couldn't, so we went to daughter's. I wasn't going to do anything on Christmas, but I've decided I want to be with my daughter and her family, so we will go there as usual and watch granddaughter open her gifts from us and her other grandparents. Oh, and I do love Christmas bags and use them exclusively these days.
Kathy, hope you see this. The Shillito's elves are in Mariemont, across the street from the Mariemont Inn. The name of the place is Santa Land. Oddly, Santa himself id t part of the exhibit.
DeleteEven though it's just me, I sent out cards, some with notes, decorated, including the tree (artificial), wrapped presents for my friends, and am listening to Christmas music. I baked cookies but I always bake to have desserts other than ice cream except in the summer when it's hot.
ReplyDeleteOn Christmas Day, I'll watch the Disney Parade, read, and reach out with texts, e-mails, and Facebook to my friends. I'm making a beef roast. Have a wonderful holiday season.
I absolutely adore Christmas traditions--new books, food, music, smells, trees, decorations, presents, chocolate Santas, old books, and even snow (for a short time). Merry Christmas!
ReplyDeleteI'm on my own now, with my sister and her fiance' traveling in California and our parents both passed away. I have two friends and a cousin to send packages to -- cousin has hers, one friend is traveling and the other is very calm about when anything turns up, so I have not sent two packages yet! I'm calm. Church will be crowded on Christmas Eve, but I'll go in the morning (it's Sunday) and evening -- my tradition is to aim for the early service, and if the bus gets messed up or the crowd too big, I'm early for the later one. Then this Christmas, I'm leading a prayer and reading a psalm at the church service. Then home to books -- reading and writing alike. I'll enjoy records (yes, I mean that) and my little Charlie Brown tree, which didn't come out last year after my elbow surgery. Sometimes a year off is good for a tradition.
ReplyDelete