CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS

Okay, okay... I know it's been awhile.  A whole month, actually.  But I got really busy after Thanksgiving and then I got sick the whole week before Christmas and now I am sitting here with a massive headache (probably stress induced) trying to update my blog because it seems silly to have the title with no substance (and because Emily got a little sassy in her comment!).  Actually, I have been thinking about this blog post for most of the week since everything this time of year often revolves around tradition.  So here goes.....

I come from a family of tradition lovers.  We LOVE our traditions.  Sometimes we debate (discuss rapidly) which behaviors are actually tradition and which are not, sometimes we resurrect old traditions, sometimes (due to current circumstances) we postpone traditions for next year, and sometimes we catch ourselves doing the same thing over and over and pronounce, "it must be TRADITION!" Whatever its origin or reason, my family loves our traditions.  And I have come to rely on them for a certain sense of familiarity and belonging and comfort.... especially when sick.  I thought I would share a few of my favorite from this year.

Christmas decorations  

1-The past many years, although not when we were children, my mother puts her Department 56 North Pole Village set on the mantle and lights it up.  These houses - each house with a letter on it (the entire set spells out North Pole) - stay lit all day and all night.  In the evening, with the fire in the fireplace, the lights of the room low, the TV turned off, the village's soft glow fills our family room with this incredible look.  I always try to take one night to sit on the sofa after everyone has gone to bed, sip a cup of tea or hot chocolate (or warm milk with honey when I have a cough) and be quiet in the soft glow.  It has become one of my favorite calming traditions during a season of chaos.  

2-My entire life we have had wood letters with Christmas paintings on them that spell out N-O-E-L.  They are free standing, so we can space them as close together or as far apart as we wish.  Every Christmas season, NOEL somehow rearranged itself to spell LEON with a little help from my dad.  Who is LEON, you ask?  Who knows.  It doesn't matter.  LEON has become my dad's NOEL and even now one of us will always rearrange the letters in his honor.... some traditions become more about the person than the actual act.

3-The Christmas tree and its ornaments are generally a source of frustration every year.  We never seem to get one that pleases everyone and I have decided that stringing lights around the tree is the worst job EVER invented.  How many times can you get poked in the face with pine needles before you give up?!?!  So this year I refused to put the ornaments on.... long story, but we ended up with a beautiful tree filled with salt dough star cookies and hand strewn garland of popcorn and cranberries.  It was gorgeous.  But Christmas Day I realized that ornaments are not just there to give me grief, many are part of our tradition.  So I admit that I, too, was a little bummed that I scrooged out and didn't hang our traditional ornaments on the tree this year.  It seemed like Christmas-light without the Starship Enterprise ornament with a button that says, when pushed, "shuttle craft to enterprise, shuttle craft to enterprise... spock here.  Live long and prosper."

Christmas Eve

1- I have no idea when or why this started as our dinner tradition, but for as long as I can remember we eat spaghetti on Christmas Eve.  Not just any spaghetti, though.  This is Ce Pfeiffer's traditional Italian sauce recipe with short ribs and italian sausages that simmer in the sauce all day long.  It is so good.  I don't think any of us would ever trade this tradition for another kind of dinner on Christmas Eve.  

2- After dinner, we have always had a short Christmas Eve program.  As kids, there were often skits involved.  But when we moved here over 25 years ago, one of our first Christmas Eve's involved a power outage.  So we gathered all the candles we could and continued reading the story of Christ's birth from the scriptures, another story mom would always buy for dad to read, sing a couple Christmas songs and drink wassail.  The lights out became an instant family classic to be recreated every Christmas Eve since (although now with our aging eyes, we tend to leave one of the lights on in an adjacent room as well as the Christmas tree lights, of course).  

3- Midnight Mass.  Obviously, this became a tradition for the adults who were still up wrapping presents and putting together Santa toys.  I don't think I have ever watched the entire thing.... I get a little sleepy with all the Latin and bell ringing and stuff.  But I love the tradition of having it on the TV as we move in and out of rooms finishing preparations for the big day.  I will always stop to watch the Pope and listen to a few of the songs.  It really is quite impressive.

Christmas Day

I realize everyone has the tradition of opening presents, so I will skip ahead to the after party with Johnny Mathis or Bing Crosby blasting from the CD player and mom cooking a ginormous breakfast to get us through the day.  Then the frenzy begins.  The most notable tradition of opening presents/stockings, however, is the tangerine in the toe of our stocking.  Every year we have a tangerine (discovered only recently to be from the neighbor's tree) in the toe of our stocking to prevent smaller items of treats or toys from falling down there and getting lost. Oh, and corn nuts.  Yuck.  Every year a bag of corn nuts in my stocking and every year I hand them straight over to Julie.  Stocking traditions are the best!

It was a wonderful Christmas as you can see.  I am indeed grateful for my family this year and every year.  I am especially grateful for our traditions that I can pass on to my own family someday..... and now to all of you.  I will save our New Years tradition for my next post.  For now I wish you all a very happy holiday.  Thanks for all you have given me in love andfriendship in 2008 and I look forward to an even better 2009!