Christmas Traditions

[Teresa Edgerton]

I love Christmas. It's my favorite time of year. I love Christmas stories (yay Charles Dickens!), Christmas decorations, Christmas foods, and Christmas traditions, new and old. Particularly the latter, which have always fascinated me. Maybe because living where I do, there aren't very many and I've always felt like everyone else in the world has a great storehouse of traditions to draw on. (Not that I'm unwilling to steal ideas from other lands and other cultures -- far from it!)

In a large multi-national and multi-cultural community like this one, I imagine there are a vast number of different ways that Christmas and/or the other Winter Holidays are celebrated. So what are your local traditions, long-time family traditions, or traditions you have revived or created yourself?

Please tell the rest of us all about it, and don't leave out a single sugarplum, tissue paper hat, or tinsel star.

 

[dwndrgn]

Being a poor, nonn-religious family with untraditional roots - we never had any true traditions but we started our own. Some of my favorites:
Christmas morning was celebrated with orange cinnamon buns.
Christmas Eve was spent with the grandparents and Oma's wonderful rum balls.
Thanksgiving wasn't a true holiday unless mom burned the bread and left the cranberry sauce in the 'fridge.
Christmas stockings were the only thing available for us kids to enjoy until it was time to wake up the aged 'santas' My brothers and I loved this quiet time without the folks to check out what was in our stockings (always at least one orange and some nuts - and this tradition continues to this day), and play the 'shake and guess' game with our wrapped gifts.
My absolute favorite though was the gag gift. It was never the gift that was the gag, but the way it was either wrapped or hidden or whatever. Some examples: my brother had a gift that was in a huge box, inside the box was another wrapped box with a label stating something to the effect that "Brian obviously doesn't know how to unwrap a gift, give April a try" and the boxes would get smaller as each person in the room got to open one portion of the gift. It always ended with some funny comment and with the person the gift was actually for. Once, we hid a gift and wrapped a clue...that clue led to another clue, and so on until we had all followed the gift recipient through the house following clues until the end.
My husband and I have created another tradition, and it came from our frequent moving in our early years together. Wherever we moved, inevitably, there was a Cracker Barrel (those of you not in the southern US wouldn't understand) which is a restaurant with a country store attached. We always buy one Christmas ornament from the Cracker Barrel country store each year.

That's that. My goofy family

 

[rune]

My Mam and I lived with my Gran and it was my Gran's birthday on Christmas day so all the family and her friends would come visit. I always remember the place been full of people nearly all day

Now both my Mam and Gran have passed away. But I still remember Christmas Day fondly. The family members who are left dont keep up the visiting on Christmas Day. I still make as much fuss as I can, because I love it still

One of my Mam's traditions, was to walk the dogs early Xmas Morning and wake up our family friends that lived on the same street to wish them a Merry Christmas and of course to make sure they were up because normally they'd sleep in late

 

[Marky Lazer]

Christmas isn't a big thing in Hollanda. Yes, we have a Christmas Trees but that's more or less it. We don't do presents.

However, we always used to watch the Muppets Christmas Carol. Even when I was too small to read subtitles. We also used to play Monopoly every Christmas with 4 players (my Mom, my borther, my sister and Team Dad and Marky).

 

[ras'matroi]

We don't get the presents on the morning of the 25th but at the evening of the 24th.
And as far as the stockings go.... Here it is tradition that the children put their shoes outside on the 6th and get sweets or small presents.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Where is it that you live, ras'matroi? And is that the 6th of January (Epiphany) or December 6th (St. Nicholas Day?)?

dwndrgn, I wonder if citrus fruit in the stockings is a tradition in a lot of families, or only in places like California and Florida? Because my husband used to always have an orange in his stocking, too -- in my family it was tangerines. Of course, in other places, I suppose fruit in winter would qualify as a special treat. I've heard of other families doing the gag gift, too, but never on an ongoing basis and never as elaborately as what you describe. It sounds like it could produce a lot of hilarity, as these things tend to build.

And rune, we've also lost our extended family celebrations with the passing on of the old folks. (Although, depressingly, I suppose my generation is the old folks now.) Fortunately, warned by a magazine article I read a long time ago, I made it a point to establish our own traditions within the immediate family, so we would have something left when it was no longer possible to visit the grandparents. Those traditions seem to still have meaning for the offspring, since even though they are adults living on their own they arrive without fail on Christmas morning for breakfast and opening presents.

History-maven and anglophile that I am, when the kids were still small I always tried to have Turkish Delight on hand at Christmas (a treat not so easy to find in this benighted country, I may say) and I would make up a trifle on Christmas Eve. And they still insist on those, too. My mother had some really excellent recipes for Christmas cookies, and someone (sometimes several someones) usually bakes up a lot of those using her old recipes.

(Hmmm ... maybe someone should start a topic for exchanging cookie recipes.)

Marky, we used to play Monopoly on Christmas morning, too, a lot of the time, but that's only because someone or the other would get a new set every few years (my brother and sisters and I are spread out in age, and the money and the playing pieces tended to disappear over the course of time).

Does everyone here still do Christmas trees, or have some of us outgrown that? (I don't intend to stop until I'm too feeble to get up out of my wheelchair.) We used to buy live trees, because I felt guilty about the waste of cutting down a tree just to use it for a few weeks. But then we ran out of places to plant them when they grew too big to bring into the house. We have quite a little pine forest in our back yard as a result. So then I bought an artificial tree. And what with different space limitations and so on over the years, I ended up buying trees of various sizes and shapes and degrees of realism.

As a result, I currently have four trees. This year, in a moment of madness, I decided to set up and decorate them all (since I add a few new ornaments every year, there were more than enough to go around). The effect is rather splendid, if I say so myself, but I don't know if I'll ever try anything that ambitious and labor-intensive again.

On the other hand, never let it be said that I know when to stop, or that I have any concept at all of "too much of a good thing."

 

[GOLLUM]

Does everyone here still do Christmas trees, or have some of us outgrown that? (I don't intend to stop until I'm too feeble to get up out of my wheelchair.) We used to buy live trees, because I felt guilty about the waste of cutting down a tree just to use it for a few weeks. But then we ran out of places to plant them when they grew too big to bring into the house. We have quite a little pine forest in our back yard as a result. So then I bought an artificial tree. And what with different space limitations and so on over the years, I ended up buying trees of various sizes and shapes and degrees of realism.

As a result, I currently have four trees. This year, in a moment of madness, I decided to set up and decorate them all (since I add a few new ornaments every year, there were more than enough to go around). The effect is rather splendid, if I say so myself, but I don't know if I'll ever try anything that ambitious and labor-intensive again.

On the other hand, never let it be said that I know when to stop, or that I have any concept at all of "too much of a good thing."

We used to have a real Christmas tree for many years that I'd take great pleasure in helping to decorate. These days we go for an artifical tree we can use every year as it's a lot easier to maintain but of course you don't get that wonderful smell of pine.

I used to help in decorating the tree and still do to to this day with baubels and other such items, along with tinsel and lights and a great big whopping silver star on top plus a nativity scecne at the base of the tree. When its littered with presents for the clan and all the lights are on it's quite a sight actually....

We used to get sotckings under the tree on Christams morning that we were allowed to open during which time our father would get us to sing carols. After a glorious luncheon which used to last several hours we'ld then open up the presents with moi being the official presenter. Following this we'ld have the obligatory afternoon tea when the neighbours and other rels who weren't present earlier in the day would arrive with more present giving....

These days things follow a similar line except the Carols and stockings seem to have been tossed....

One new development in recent years has been qiute a few people in our street are now taking to the notion of decorating their houses, roofs, trees etc.. with a myriad of tiny lights and motifs. I can tell you its quite a sight at night although a little too Hollywood for my liking...

 

[dwndrgn]

Kelpie - we've always done Christmas trees, and still do. We've always had real, cut trees. I protested as a child - I tended to do that often, don't get me started on the mental capacity of a cow - and was mollified by the facts as given by my dad who has always been the logical one in the family (and the one I argued with most often as with the cows stated above), they are:
1. Christmas tree farms are a business, therefore they plant trees as often as they are cut in order to stay in business.
2. Being a business, they help people to make money and have good Christmases.
3. Artificial trees will not biodegrade.
Of course, these facts mollified my little mind and have stuck with me to this day. This year we're still debating over having a tree at all. It having been such a poor year financially for us all. DH (Dear Husband) spent the evening decorating the living room and enjoyed it so we'll probably have a tree.

I grew up in California so that may be why we had oranges, as opposed to any other fruit, but the reason they were in the stockings was to make them look full (mom admitted this many years ago that with a couple of tiny gifts the stockings looked sad so she'd pick up the oranges and nuts from the table (we had a bowl for each around the holidays) and used them for filler.) Funny enough, here in Florida we haven't kept up that tradition. I may have to restart it this year

GOLLUM - in the US, lighting up the outside of the house is a major project, most neighborhoods have competitions for the best display. We won once, many years ago but haven't had the energy or the spirit to do it up properly in the past few years.

You also reminded me of another tradition. In our family the youngest (mobile ) kid was the official present giver. When very young they got help with reading the tags.

Sadly, we don't have any family recipes for goodies. Oma's rum ball recipe passed away when she did - she refused help in their making and never gave anyone the recipe. Mom was never at her best in the kitchen either and my maternal grandmother passed away when I was a baby.

A recipe swap would be a great idea, especially since we have several nations represented here on the board.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Your dad sounds like a strong advocate for conspicuous consumption, April.

One of the advantages of an artificial tree is that it doesn't matter if you can afford to buy a tree every year, because you already have one. And the cost of real trees has really gone up lately. I saw trees being sold outside the grocery store for $34.00!! (They were six-foot Noble Pines, which are very elegant trees, but still ...) Like Gollum, though, I do miss the pine scent. I burn pine-scented candles, but they're just not the same.

But well do I know what it's like not having money at Christmas. There have been lean years when we could hardly afford presents for the kids, so John and I were forced to get creative and make handmade toys. And before that, the first year we were married, after we bought a tiny little tree we couldn't afford ornaments, so I cut out paper snowflakes and hung candy canes. After that, I began to collect ornaments every year that I could afford to buy them (which wasn't every year, by any means). Over time they accumulated, so that even during years when we were too poor to do anything else we could decorate the house and make things look festive. We were always able to scrape up enough for a tree, but sometimes only just. I hope you can find a way to buy a tree if you want one.

But that conversation about the mental powers of cows (and other food animals), we've had that one here, too! My son decided all on his own to become a vegetarian at the age of eight, and though we backed him up (we figured he would reach an age when we'd be glad we had encouraged him to stick by his own principles and not give in to pressure -- and we were glad, too), but he took a lot of flak from uncles and grandfathers. Amazingly, he stuck with it.

Gollum, your family Christmases sound wonderful! But as April says, the lights are definitely an American tradition, and some people around here go hog-wild. Every year the local newspaper prints an article pointing out the best neighborhoods to visit to see the lights. My youngest daughter just put up her lights next door (she rents the house there), and they look very nice. I don't know if we'll have lights ourselves this year, because my husband is dragging his feet, but I have an idea Megan may talk him into it.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Someone should probably start a separate topic for cookie recipes. The people around here are usually attracted to anything with food in the title.

 

[GOLLUM]

GOLLUM - in the US, lighting up the outside of the house is a major project, most neighborhoods have competitions for the best display. We won once, many years ago but haven't had the energy or the spirit to do it up properly in the past few years.

You also reminded me of another tradition. In our family the youngest (mobile ) kid was the official present giver. When very young they got help with reading the tags.

A recipe swap would be a great idea, especially since we have several nations represented here on the board.

Well as far as the light thing goes this is a fairly recent phenomenon in this country especially over the past 5 years, presumably another example of us adopting American culture. In fact regarding Kelpie's comments on the local media reporting on this sort of thing, "the best lit house" in Melbourne is covered quite a bit on talkback radio but less so on television and newspapers here. Our street is one of those nominated for the best lit street in the city of Melbourne, which is nice in one way but kinda scary in another with lots of gawking passers by....

Funnily enough I'm the youngest in my family (don't it show... ) and I'm the one who always passes out the presents for as long as I can remember when everyone gets together for Christmas. Kind of fun though, the joy of being able to present people with their gifts and see the smiles, especially on the faces of my nephews and nieces.

As Kelpie also suggestes a recipe swap would be a very good idea but I'd expand it to include all Christmas holiday foods actually. Could be quite a worthwhile activity.

Like Gollum, though, I do miss the pine scent. I burn pine-scented candles, but they're just not the same.

Gollum, your family Christmases sound wonderful! But as April says, the lights are definitely an American tradition, and some people around here go hog-wild. Every year the local newspaper prints an article pointing out the best neighborhoods to visit to see the lights. My youngest daughter just put up her lights next door (she rents the house there), and they look very nice. I don't know if we'll have lights ourselves this year, because my husband is dragging his feet, but I have an idea Megan may talk him into it.

Thanks they're certainly a hoot, no doubt about it.... and I agree Kelpie, there's nothing like the smell of real pine.

As per my above comments, I don't mind the lights and lots of people do go to a lot of trouble to get into the spirit of the whole thing but for me its a little too "glitzy, glamour, hollywood here we come" for my tastes if you know what I mean...

 

[GOLLUM]

Someone should probably start a separate topic for cookie recipes. The people around here are usually attracted to anything with food in the title.

I've just set up a Christmas Recipes thread over at The Lounge for those interested...

 

[ras'matroi]

Hi Kelpie I was talking of St Nicholas Day the 6th of december.
I mentioned it because while I stayed in the US noone had ever heard of it.

 

[Rosemary]

The decorating of the houses with christmas lights seems to have gone to the extreme here...each night one is shown on the television....whoever rings the tv channel first to answer a question gets a price...and at the end of christmas there is a prize for the best lit house...

Whatever happened to going to church on christmas?

 

[cornelius]

prices for the best lit house? doesn' that draw more Pyro's to the neighbourhood?

when it freezes on christmas eve, I usually sneek away from the party and go outside, all by myself. I think about life, and death... I think about the future and the past... then I usually feel quite frustrated ( I do not live a very happy life all the time, there are some black spots ....), si I search a frozen bit of water and simply bash it to pieces. It gives me great relief, I usually feel better after this ( if I didn't break my fingers cause the ice was to thick, that is , didn't happen ( yet) )

then I go back inside, get a bit of alcoholic drink, and listen to the stories...

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Americans have been stringing Christmas lights outside their houses for as long as I can remember, which means more than fifty years. As things go here in the States, that's a venerable old tradition.

When handled with taste and artistry, the effect can be magical, but of course most of us don't have that much taste and artistry and many people carry it to extremes. I still think it's a nice idea, and the symbolism of a multitude of tiny lights suddenly appearing during the darkest part of the year is quite beautiful. (I understand that the practice doesn't carry quite the same weight in the Antipodes, where it's the middle of summer.)

Anyway, since the lights go up before Christmas, and people go to Church for Midnight services on Christmas Eve, or to morning services on the day itself, the two practices are not, of course, mutually exclusive.

 

[dwndrgn]

Loads of people still do Christmas services here, we just seem to commercialize the rest of it to death. I'll post up some neighborhood pictures as soon as I figure out how to do so since were using our second computer (which is definitely lacking in the graphics category).

We've spent the evening playing Trivial Pursuit (my fave) and losing (hopefully we'll have a rematch since we didn't finish - the pregnant lady had to get home). So now it's football (the American kind) for the rest of the evening.

 

[rune]

I like to see people decorate the outside of their house with christmas lights It's very pretty when you're walking dogs this time of year and xmas morning's a real treat as I tend to be up early and by then lots of homes are decorated up

 

[Mark Robson]

We have developed a few customs in our household. I'm not sure whether I could call them traditions, as they have not been established for enough years to qualify for that title, but they may amuse.

You may think we're a bit cruel with this first one, but in order to try to control our wayward 6 year old, we have been telling her that the motion sensors around the house (from the burglar alarm system) are actually Father Christmas's spy devices. This is how he knows whether she is naughty, or nice! She can always tell when he's watching because a little red light comes on (whenever something in the room moves, basically!).

Those who have read the Timothy Urpen diaries will also be aware of the other custom of what we leave out for Santa on Christmas Eve. There's no milk or cookies in this household - it's a glass of whisky (single malt, naturally - only the best for Santa!) and some mince pies ... and, of course, a glass of special milk to keep Rudolf's nose red (baileys!). Sadly, we also have to leave out 8 carrots for the reindeer too, which all have to appear nibbled the next morning. You can guess who's job this is. The whisky does make up for it, though.

 

[dwndrgn]

Carrots are good for you...um...reindeer! Tell them they must clean their plates

I just wanted to post this article I found on the San Francisco Chronicle's website regarding the use of fake trees versus real trees for Christmas.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/12/15/MNGADG8GN81.DTL