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As far back as I can remember, in my family, Christmas Gift! was the traditional Christmas Day greeting. My sister, Cissy, was the family master at this and usually “got” us all (i.e., she would say it before I could say it). It was how we answered the phone in those pre-caller ID days, just in case it was my grandmother or first cousins on the line. It is also one of the family traditions that has carried on to this day as I received an email just after midnight last night from my brother with “Christmas Gift!” as the subject. Since he had sent it to me and our first cousin Mary, I replied all so that I could say I “got” someone. Then I went to Facebook and left it as a message on the pages of Mary, her daughters and her niece and nephew (since her brother is not on Facebook, I guess I’ll miss him).
Christmas Day 1959 just after the measles broke and I decided I finally wanted to play with my Christmas presents
This was just one of the many and varied traditions we had for Christmas Day. Another tradition that I have managed to sustain all these years is a Christmas Day breakfast of steak and eggs. This year is no exception as I have already eaten the breakfast a bit ago. I think the only year I have missed having steak and eggs on Christmas Day was 1976 when I was in Basic Training at Lackland AFB.
While my mother and sister were both always doing the heavy Christmas decorations, I have tended to not continue that tradition. I have plenty of ornaments for those occasional years where I do put up a tree. One year, one of my cousins made and gave me an “angel” for the top of the tree. She told me the angels tended not to last as they were made out of sugar and the mice would eat them. I used the angel that year then wrapped it in plastic from the dry cleaners. I passed this angel on to the daughter of this cousin earlier this year as a remembrance of her mother who died suddenly 20 years ago. Then as I went through my sister’s things after her death, I made sure I saved the tree top angel she had made in kindergarten and had set on top of our family trees as we grew up then on her trees over the years.
Christmas Day 1962 with my new bike
Some traditions last decades, others only for two or three years but all make Christmas unique for our individual families. Sometimes, it is life intruding that breaks the traditions. Many of us can recall Christmases where a family member is lost right in the middle of the season. In my family, it was the year a first cousin died in a car accident a week before Christmas. He would have been 21 on Christmas Eve that year. Remembering the pain of that Christmas, we can get some sense of the anguish being felt by the families of folks in Newtown, CT and Webster, NY today.
Pictures were always a big tradition in my family. This picture from 1980 is the last year we were all together on Christmas. I have been scanning in a lot of Christmas pictures from over the years and have uploaded them to Facebook. They do make a good record for the family.
And because I can:
Cross posted from Just A Small Town Country Boy by Richard Taylor
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Mele Kalikimaka me ka Hau’oli Makahiki Hou to you
(CT helped me with that)
:}) and a Hau’oli Makahiki Hou to you as well…
The last time I was at Little Momma’s with my brother, we went through the Christmas boxes of ornaments and other stuff that comprised Christmas in our house, that is the decorating traditions. My sister wanted some things, and we spent a bit of time trying to locate some specific items she wanted.
I like some of the traditions of the season, despite my general lack of interest in the day. I have traditions that I have involved myself in with neighbors or friends, that were not so much a part of what my family did. I like to make a wreath, kind of a pagan thing, I think. I don’t otherwise decorate except to put up luminarias on Christmas eve, and I have some few lights that I can put up outside quickly. I like to bake with friends.
What appeals to me is that we do spend nice hours together doing things we like to do, and I think that is the best part of this time of year, which as it’s cold and dark, has not a lot else to recommend it, IMO.
When I was a kid, my father and his sister used to always exchange home made gifts. A few years ago, my sisters had a bunch of old home movies put onto a DVD. While watching the first time, there was a scene from a childhood Christmas. My father was opening the gift from his sister. After ripping off the paper he turned it to the camera. I immediately hit the pause button. The item he was holding is hanging on my wall just above the TV, 40 years later and 1500 miles away.
A special morning with my 4 year old grand-twins! They saw that the oats on the hearth had been ‘nibbled at’ by the reindeer and that Santa had snacked on his cookie. They were so excited!
My family has a similar tradition, except we play “Christmas eve gift”. However, I cannot recall ever collecting a gift for winning.
Nor did we ever officially get a gift for winning. Just the satisfaction of being a bit quicker than other family members