Tell us your Christmas traditions and memories

I have many fond memories of the Christmas traditions we observed in our home as I was growing up. Join me and share some of yours, too.

Here is one of of my fondest memories about Christmas:

Decorating the tree, of course. Every year around Dec. 15th, we would go out to one of the places selling Christmas trees (no artificial trees in those days) and pick out our tree. Usually the whole family would go: Daddy, Mother, big sister, brother, little sister (me). We picked out the tallest, roundest, fullest tree we could possibly find. Daddy always had to saw the tree trunk off by several inches once we got the tree home because we invariably picked out one that was too tall. Then we had to wait, wait, and wait some more while Daddy got the lights all strung out on the floor and we tested them to make sure they worked. In those days, if one bulb went out, the whole string went out. So if there was a bulb not working, you had to try to find which bulb it was. Seemed to me that it always took forever! Finally the big moment came when all the lights were working and we could string them on the tree. Then came the various decorations and the icicles which we took by handsful and threw on the tree in big clumps. Then the star on top, of course. The very last thing we did was to fling "snow" made from Ivory Flakes, which mother whipped up. We took it by spoonsful and would flip the snow onto the edges of the tree limbs. Of course, mother always spread out a sheet all around the bottom of the tree and behind it because we usually got more snow on the walls and floor than on the tree! LOL Even my older brother and sister would show up to decorate the tree after they became teen-agers. It was truly a family affair!
There was always Christmas music playing on the record player (no cd players back then) and after we finished with the decorating, there was hot chocolate and cookies or some kind of dessert.

That's one of my memories. What are some of yours?

Mine are very similar to yours. A step further is my mom's only sister died on Xma Eve 1978, the same year my DD was born. So, Christmas Eve the next year, we all got together and kept mom occupied. It didn't work. She still thought of Aunt Kathleen. So, we changed it from an avoidance to a celebration of her memory. Since then, it's become a tradition to all meet at someones house for that day. I know a lot of families do that now but ours has special meaning for us.

When you said no artificial trees it reminded me of the year I was 12 and Mom got her aluminum tree. It was all the rage in the '60's. We didn't know about allergies back then and didn't have all the meds either. So I usually got sick as soon as a real tree came into the house. I would be pretty bad by Christmas and have several infections and/or pneumonia until about March every year. So that little al. tree made that year my first nice Christmas I can recall, with no Dr. visits and actually smiling in the Christmas photos. After that we never have had a real tree. Fast forward to the '90 I got tested for allergies and yep, my worst ones are to pine and cedar! Maybe that isn't what you wanted, but it sure made a difference in my life.

Well, a memory is a memory--be it good or bad! My daughter had an allergy to cedar trees that we didn't know about for many years but by that time she was grown and married. Fortunately, we never had a cedar Christmas tree--usually fir or something else. We haven't had a real tree in years, though. I bought a beautiful artificial tree that has lasted us for at least 10 years or more. It still looks good! It should,after what I paid for it but then when you average at the cost over the number of years, it turns out to be very inexpensive.

Okay, so what kind of goodies were baked around your house? Anything special? At our house it was DIVINITY! Mother had a recipe for "Twice-cooked Divinity" and it was something she only made at Christmastime. It had to be made on a day when the humidity was low (a rarity in Arkansas) or it wouldn't turn out just right. I looked forward every year to that divinity! She also made a white fruit cake of some kind, which wasn't my favorite but it was better than most fruit cakes. I usually hated fruit cakes, and still do, but this one was different. I didn't keep the recipe so I can't tell you how it was different.

We have to go up to MIL's this afternoon and spend the night so we can be there in the morning to collect some "samples" and take them to the lab for MIL. I'm telling you this wonderful bit of information because I won't be back online until Thurs. afternoon. Y'all carry on! LOL!

Marsue, we'll miss you!

I'll miss y'all, too, and I just know all the DGers will be doing so much posting I'll have a hard time catching up once I get back!!

My Mom made divinity, Hershey's cocoa fudge, popcorn balls, pecan pies, and a fruitcake cookie that was wonderful. She is where I got my love of cooking! She would make us treats almost daily when school was out. I never really ate much with the sore throats, but that year I didn't get sick I made up for never knowing what those things tasted like in years past!

Not an old tradition, but one we have now, is nothing Christmassy goes up in our house until December 12th. My DD's birthday is December 11, and we do it so that she really feels that her birthday is special and not part of Christmas. My step dad's birthday was Christmas day, and it always seemed overshadowed by Christmas. I never wanted tori to feel that way. Even if I get Christmas cards in the mail before the 12th, they stay on the counter until the 12th or after. And no present wrapped in Christmas paper either LOL.

Something else we do is Christmas Eve, our family (me and mine, my sister and hers and my mom) all gather at my sisters house to open presents. We don't go anywhere Christmas day. I hated being a kid and having to leave all those great new toys at home to go visiting on Christmas day, so we don't leave the house Christmas day at all. While we are at my sisters, the "elves" come and leave brand new PJ's on the kids beds. Sort of an early gift from Santa. Although this year, not sure how it is all gonna work, since we are supposed to go to Disney World for Christmas :)

Janis

Wow, Disneyworld for Christmas! I'm still a big kid at heart so can I come, too? LOL--have to bring my DH though. :o)))
Okay, now I definitely have to sign off or I'll never get to MIL's before dark--hate driving at night!!!

LOL Sure the more the merrier! The kids have no idea.. and the idea was all Mike. He took his kids to Disney World for Christmas a couuple times, and wants mine to experience it too. We are hoping to stay in the resort hotel in the park! I have only been to Disney world once, when I was 12, so I'm pretty excited about it too!!

Have a safe trip!

Janis

I would love to do Disneyland for Christmas one year, but dh doesn't enjoy it like I do. My birthday is Jan. 3. Now you guys know I do not like snow and cold, and was always sick on my birthday. So I always wanted to change my birthday to July! We were quite poor and if I got a present for my birthday it was wrapped in Christmas paper. I love that you are keeping dd's birthday separate from Christmas! My nephew was born on the 21st and he always requested a Christmas tree cake. He loves his birthday being with Christmas.

My birthday is on Dec. 8th. We never decorated our tree until the 15th so I never felt that my birthday was ignored.
I have an idea, cactus. Let's you and I go to Disneyland and celebrate
our birthdays and Christmas together!! I don't know what we will do with our DH's, since they both seem to not like that sort of thing, but we'll figure something out!! LOL

My best friend's daughter was born on Christmas Day. She always (and still does) receive two gifts--one for Christmas and one for her birthday. It's only fair!

Sounds good, leave the "old coots" at home! LOL! Yep, he knows I talk about him like that!

Ha! All the same, I won't tell him you said so! LOL

Another tradition we had when I was growing up is that Mother always let us open one gift from under the tree on Christmas Eve--just to take the "edge off" the excitement a little bit. We got to pick it out ourselves and that was almost as exciting as Christmas morning! I carried this tradition on with my own children in later years.

We rarely got more than one present so we always opened it on Christmas morning. My dd got many gifts and opened one on Christmas Eve. Also on Christmas Eve we put out luminarias. Up in northern NM they call them farolitos, but down south we say luminarias. They are traditionally paper bags filled with sand and a candle is lit in them. The villages or La Luz and Tularosa line the roads with them to the churches. Other lights are turned off and it is magical to walk or drive through. Police stop traffic and tell motorist to drive 15 mph and use parking lights only. I am going to try and get some good photos of them this year.

Oh, great, cactus! I would love to see some of those photos! In the December issue of Better Homes and Gardens, there is an article about luminarias. You might find it interesting if you have a copy. It starts on page 130.