Cherished Christmas Traditions

Traditions, Traditions, Traditions.   - cue Fiddler on the Roof Music.  It is Christmas season, when a whole lot of people have a whole lot of traditions.  Old ones that families cherish and repeat every year, and the opportunity to create new traditions to hand down to later generations.

One of the things we (my teaching partner and I) like to have our students write about is their Christmas traditions in their family.  Both my teaching partner and I thought that would be an excellent writing prompt, and would be easy.  We no longer have students write on that prompt!  Our reason?  The students would look at us with totally blank faces when we talked about traditions.  We would teach and teach and brainstorm, but we would still get half a class of blank faces.  We finally quit using that prompt because for whatever reason, families don't seem to have a lot of traditions anymore - at least where I teach.  It really saddened me because traditions in our family are precious.  I'm not sure why families aren't creating those traditions like I grew up with - could be the economy, maybe because families are rushed to get the basics done and survive.  Maybe because our students are only 10 and 11 and haven't lived enough years to have many traditions with their family.  It made me wonder what traditions other families have with their families.  I'd love to hear some comments and traditions from others, as I share a few of our traditions with you.

Our family is scattered all over the US.  Some in Washington State, some in Kansas, Arizona, Nebraska, and other states.  It was really difficult to get us all together at one time to celebrate Christmas.  So one of the traditions stems from that difficulty - wanting our family to be with us in spirit, if not in body.  So on Christmas eve, the four of us (hubby, me, daughter and son) would open a bottle of sparkling apple cider to make toasts.  We used the very best stemware crystal we had (even tho most of them came from Arbys!) and we all got a glass of cider.  Then we would take turns toasting our family scattered around the US with a Christmas/New Year wish for them.  After each wish or toast, we would clink glasses and take a sip.  It was a very special Christmas tradition that brought our family closer in spirit on Christmas eve.


Another Christmas tradition is kids opening one present on Christmas eve.  It could be stuffed animals, pajamas, a toy or something small - just to ease the agony of waiting to open those presents on Christmas morning.  Of course, opening that one present sent them into orbit, so getting them to bed after that was gorilla warfare!

When we open our presents on Christmas morning, we take turns.  One person at a time opens a present so we can all see and hear their reaction. That made it double special - for the giver as well as the receiver.  Sometimes it took a LONG time to get them all opened, but we got to enjoy the surprise and happiness of every single person as they opened their gift.  And prank gifts were the very best - with the giver holding their breath, knowing what was coming, waiting for the belly laughs they knew they'd get!

The next tradition I mention, is sort of odd!  I HATE, HATE, HATE wrapping presents!  I don't/didn't/ will never like buying all that expensive paper, spending hours wrapping presents and putting on bows - to have it all ripped to shreds in minutes on Christmas day.  So I decided enough was enough around 1980ish.  I waited until Christmas material went on sale at 75% off, then I bought yards of all different colors and designs.  As I had time over that winter, I would sew up Christmas gift bags. Big ones, little ones, skinny ones, tiny ones, and couple of HUMONGOUS ones!   I made a hem (like in a curtain) that I could put a ribbon through, draw it up, and tie the present shut.  Kids loved them, I loved them, husband loved that he didn't have bags of trash to take to the curb.  We have used those cloth bags for years and years and now the grandkids are getting their presents in those very same cloth bags. We have recycled them for 30 some years.  It is a tradition that makes perfect environmental sense today!

Another weird tradition started when the kids were about 8 and 9.  After the presents were opened and played with, there was always kind of a let down. We all kind of wandered around the house in a daze.  One year, Popeye was showing at the local theater, and we knew the kids were dying to see it.  So we bought tickets and went to the movies on Christmas day.  Not very many people there and we had an absolute ball!  We continued that tradition for years with a different movie each year.

I also didn't want to spend my entire day cooking Christmas dinner and then the rest of the day washing and cleaning up the mess.  We always got lots of goodies from friends and neighbors during the Christmas season that never seemed to get eaten.  So our Christmas dinner evolved into putting all the goodies out we had gotten, and adding our favorite junk food snacks - Rotel Cheese dip, sausage balls, all kinds of cookies and candy, chips, nachoes - you name it!  I always made a huge raw veggie tray with dip so we could sort of balance the junk stuff!  The kids absolutely loved it - they could nibble all day.  There was hardly any cooking to do, very little clean up, and calories didn't count that day - so I loved it.  Add an adult beverage, a football game and my hubby thought he was in heaven!

Several years ago, my son in law and I got into a Christmas contest to get a prank/gag gift for each other.  I had started pulling tricks on him years before that, and I guess that evolved into Christmas gags.  Some of the things he has come up with for me were so hysterically funny, I laughed until I had tears streaming down my face.  Having heard him complain and whine about the fact that with 4 females in the house, he was always going to the store for toilet paper, I knew what that year's gift would be.  I bought him the biggest package of toilet paper I could find and put a bow on it.  I think it had 40 rolls in it or something like that. He almost fell off the couch laughing.  I had other ones that were even better,  but that will have to be a whole other blog!

I could write pages and pages about Christmas traditions from the time I was a little girl to the present.  But I would rather close now, and hopefully, hear about traditions from others who read this blog.  Merry Christmas to all, and may the next year be filled with joy, peace and love.