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I was just thinking after posting about the gifts I got as a kid and what traditions people have grown up with.
One think I can’t forget is for Christmas Eve dinner, before we opened our presents, we’d always have oyster stew (from my dad’s French side of the family, and lutefisk (from mom’s, Norwegian). And if you don’t know what lutefisk is, it’s the most grossest fish you could ever eat. It’s white fish that has been dried, soaked in lye, then boiled and eaten with a white sauce on it. The only redeeming quality of that meal is that she’s make lefsa with it which is VERY yummy. That’s like a tortilla only made with mashed potatoes instead of corn. A warm lefsa with cold button on…OMG! Now I’m going to have to go make some.
As I got older and had kids of my own, our CE evolved into having a new traditional dinner of French dip sandwiches with potato salad and a family favorite of jello, fruit cocktail, marshmallows and whipped cream for dessert. Then we’d go to church so Santa could come. Always on the way home from church, an adult would spy a light in the sky and say it looks very much like Santa’s sleigh to them and they wonder if Santa had already been to our house. Of course he had.
Then on Christmas day, we’d visit the relatives and have guests at our house. That’s when the Christmas cookies (like only my mom’s family could make…ALWAYS made with butter, never margarine or anything else) would come out and the coffee pot and egg nog would always be ready.
Oh, to have a Christmas like that again. Both of my kids now want to open gifts on Christmas morning now so things have changed a lot. But then, they’re making their own memories and traditions.
Hmmm, since Christmas is at MY house this year, maybe I’ll just…
on Christmas Eve, and ONLY one. We could pick out any one that we wanted, but that was the only one we could open. The rest had to wait until Christmas morning. Oh, how well I remember how difficult it was to fall asleep on Christmas Eve. I think for the most part that feeling is still the same today; at least, in my family (kids and grandkids) they are.
We used to go to my grandmas house on Christmas eve and open presents from the aunts and uncles and cousins, then at home we usually could open one present we could pick it out, before we went to church, then on Christmas we’d usually wake up really early and open presents, then we’d go to my aunts house for Christmas dinner.
My mom decided when she had kids that we wouldn’t go anywhere on Christmas Day. She felt it was cruel to have a kid open presents then go out and not be able to play with them. So, Christmas Eve wasn’t anything special except we got to open one present and go to bed early. On Christmas morning the tree had all the wrapped gifts from my mom and dad as well as from my brother The gifts from Santa were unwrapped except for a few that had clothes. Later my close family friends would come with their 3 kids and dinner was a standing rib roast and ham.
When I got older one of my aunts moved to the house behind us and her son and his family would go to her house on Christmas Eve then spend the day at our house. When my aunt passed away her son and family would come to our house on Christmas Eve and they’d camp out in sleeping bags in the dining room and wake up on Christmas morning to Santa’s gifts.
After my mom died I wanted something different and my cousin’s kids were grown and he adopted and was raising his granddaughter. I’d drive the 80 miles to his house on Christmas Eve and spend the night. Then I’d get up with the granddaughter and experience Christmas morning through her eyes. I’d fix dinner and his kids would come with their families.
Now that I’m married and in Alabama the only family is Don’s sister and her kids. There’s always so much stress and drama being around them. Don doesn’t like the holidays due to an abusive father and no happy memories so I’m longing for a traditional Christmas. Rather than going through the stress of his sister (we had enough over Thanksgiving to last several years) we’re staying home and invited a friend of Don’s who has no family in the area to come for dinner.
What’s funny, I’m nostalgic for a Christmas I never had. I want the Dickens or Currier & Ives Christmas with snow, family around the piano singing carols and decorating the tree. I always tried to create that on Christmas Eve when I was little and even invited neighbors to come over. I planned a buffet dinner and even though I tried nobody cooperated and gave me the Christmas Eve I planned.
be alone on Christmas day is a good idea. Since my oldest son in CA and his family can’t be here this year (have to rotate among the in-laws ya know) I’ve invited my Jewish neighbor and her daughter over for dinner. Of course it’s just another day for them but I always feel the more the merrier.
One of the funniest expressions I’ve ever heard is that many Jewish people call Christmas Day, "Jews Go to the Movies Day." Because practically everything is closed on that day, it’s about their only option.
as were many of the other partners and associates of the firm, and I NEVER, EVER left the office on the last day before the holiday without all of them wishing me a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year (it’s not their New Year either). They gave us a wonderful, top-of-the-line Christmas party every year, usually in one of the many finer Harborplace hotels, where we all celebrated the holiday together. At noon, we were picked up in limos from our offices, driven to our party, and then driven to our home’s front door when we were ready to leave, and I kid you not, the bonuses were more generous than anywhere else I ever worked in my life. They were wonderful to their staff and we had a Christmas tree in our lobby, and a Menorah in our office reception area. It was wonderful, and I will never forget them, their spirit of giving, and the fact that our holidays and traditions meant as much to us as theirs did to them.
I had a co-worker at the hospital who was Jewish. He always wished us a Merr Christmas but I always asked him about the Jewish holidays and traditions as I felt they were important. Thinking about it the Jewish holidays or celebrations are where a lot of Christian customs come from. He joined in the decorating of the department’s tree and brought in food for our Christmas party and also joined in our grab bag. He was also the one that volunteered to work the Christian holidays so someone else could have it off. I’m sure it didn’t help that he got time and a half for working them but it still meant a lot to me.
A co-worker of another nationality and religion who didn’t believe in Christ would always insist on having Christmas Eve and Christmas Day off and would get huffy if she had to work.
enjoy the holiday. Not so much the Christian side of it but the "commercial" side, Santa, trees, decorations, etc. I get Christmas cards from several Jewish friends every year. But I never know whether to send them a Christmas card or a Hannuka one. I’ve gone both ways in the past.
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