The Christmas Season is over for this year. We have our tree and decorations already put away. This year all our plans fell through for the Holidays, some because of the weather, some due to illness, and others sadness over a lost loved one. Our Christmas this year wasn't what we planned it to be at all, but it got me thinking about all the Christmas traditions we all had growing up, some we make up as we grow up and move out on our own, and others we keep and treasure every year to make them live on for everyone else.
I remember when I was a little girl my Grandparents would make a huge dinner and we would go over and eat on Christmas day. It had to be Christmas day or it wasn't Christmas dinner according to my Gran. I also remember being allowed to open one present on Christmas eve.. it was already slated for the Christmas eve gift so was usually something small and fun to play with to keep me occupied until Christmas day. Now that I have children of my own we don't open a present on Christmas Eve. We make sugar cookies and spend the evening decorating them.. and picking the best 2 for Santa. And because our family is so spread out we have a huge family dinner on Christmas Eve for my husbands family, everyone comes in. This is usually the only time we see most of them. All of us together is a riot.. but each person brings a Man's gift and a Woman's gift. And we bring a present for our children to open that night. We draw numbers for the man and woman's gifts and have a wonderful time. We also get together with my Grandparents.. This year was going to be a start to a different tradition.. I was going to cook the Christmas dinner (..on Christmas Day of course) and because my Granda isn't allowed to drive anymore and my Gran can't drive this far my husband was going to get them and they would stay with me for a few days. They would get to see their son and visit with him while they were here. That didn't happen due to the weather but we will try again next year. And the most important tradition I started with my girls is to ask them why we have Christmas every year then we talk about Jesus's birth and what it means to us even now. A new tradition that has started because of Facebook not only do I send out cards to my friends and family far away NOW I send out a Merry Christmas to all those online! I don't know how to do the really neat ones my friends send me they are always beautiful..maybe one day I will... but until then I just send a message or if I'm lucky and find a cute picture I like I send it.
I have asked on my Facebook what their traditions were growing up and really looking forward to what they say. One tradition that has come through is from the Director of HAWK Center, that they all gather around the tree and pick a present for someone else rather than one of their own.. then take turns opening them.. but they also wait for the person to look their gift over and enjoy it for a moment before moving on to the next person. Another one that came through is from one of my Africam friends, that they also open presents on Christmas Eve and use to open the rest on Christmas morning.. but now they wait until about 3pm or so until his sister gets there. It's a wonderful thing to wait on family to open presents!.. Very hard on little ones to wait so long in some cases I think... and some big kids!.. but they learn how great it is to watch someone else opening a gift. A friend of mine also from Africam and from the UK says her Gran started a tradition of playing Bingo!, and instead of playing for money you get little presents, that's a neat tradition! Everyone is together and having a great time.
A neat page I have come across looking up traditions is HERE. It has a lot of information on there but what I was reading of course was the traditions.. and it tells where some of our most long standing traditions started and why. Now I don't know the validity of the information on the page but it made for good reading and was certainly interesting.Thank you everyone who posted to my FB on your traditions.. if your post didn't make it into the blog I had already posted it before yours came through.. But will add it to the comments! I love learning all these family traditions everyone has. It may give others an idea for their own tradition. This blog could go on forever talking about Christmas traditions, traditional foods, etc.. so I will end it here and wait for more responses and add them as they come in as comments! Until next time...
Another Christmas Tradition came through from another of my Africam Friends.. He has the family table that was handed down since the 50's he says, so they have the big Christmas gathering at his house. They like to invite their friends and people they have met that don't have family or a place to go to celebrate Christmas to come to their home. He says this year they had a lady from the Sr. Apts. who was from England who was a delight. They are looking forward to spending more holidays with her. And I'm sure this tradition of theirs has made many people happy on an otherwise lonely holiday for those without family or far away from family.
ReplyDeleteNice :-) Where's the Birds ?
ReplyDeleteHi anonymous :) If you mean from the HAWK Center I have not posted a picture of the ONLY picture I have been privileged to take of them yet. I will get it posted ASAP. :) If you mean pics of all the birds in my yard.. well that's too many pics to post! I have many on my FB page.
ReplyDelete