MEMORIES Community Group
Memories, pressed between the pages of my mind, Memories, sweetened thru the ages just like wine. Come here and remember,, the good times and the bad.
I've been thinking about family Christmas traditions. They were never thought of as traditions. They were just things that were done every Christmas without even thinking about them. I guess the longest lasting tradition was the Christmas stocking. Vickie and I always knew that there would be a coconut, big red apple, big orange, mixed nuts still in the shell and ribbon candy in the stockings hanging from the mantle. There might have been little toys in them too, but those big items never changed. Maybe they were there because they were never around during the rest of the year. They were special to the season. Trimming the Christmas tree was a tradition. Each person held a certain thing to do. Mom put the lights on. Sara and Mom put the ornaments on. Vickie and I put our little school-made ornaments on. All of us put the icicles on. Dad would sit and watch us, then put the star on the top. Each had a part in setting up the nativity scene. Mom and Sara did most of the work, but Vickie and I would set up the baby Jesus. One would put the manger in the stable and the other would put the baby in the manger. We'd switch each year and remember who did what the year before. Making the cookies was a tradition. The grownups with their whiskey was a tradition of Christmas. The little smirks as they spiked their Cokes, 7-Up, and eggnog. Mom and her spiked eggnog as she made Christmas dinner. The kids' table and grownup table. All great childhood memories. Mom started a tradition as we got older. Whenever a child moved away from, Mom would give them an ornament from the family tree. She said to put it on our tree. That way the family would be together even when we were far apart. I started a tradition after my dad died. I would take my vacation the week after Thanksgiving. Most of my jobs wouldn't allow a Christmas vacation. So, I'd come home and decorate the house. Put up the outside lights. Set up the tree and help her decorate it and the rest of the inside of the house. That way, I'd know it was done and she'd have time to enjoy it. Think about your Christmas traditions and savor them. They are what makes Christmas so special.
ironically, my father and uncles are musicians. they basically say the same thing, but for different reasons. christmas time, all holiday time, there are LOTS of gigs. the "traditional" stuff of other people doesn't exist for them at all. holidays are money and performances. they like to see other people's gigs as well and they like to go to movies or theatre. as a kid, i had gigs too because i was in the nutcracker ballet every year in nyc and its a "paying" gig.
when i was a kid we started skiing for the holidays. loved it. communing with nature and all that. so it was still church on christmas eve ALWAYS and even today, then dinner and then ready up for sport on christmas day. all holidays around here are treated as vacation days. no work. or a "holy day". but it takes us a week or two to have all the little dinners and see everyone. i like it this way. it keeps the holiday a holiday (day of rest or vacation day) and takes the stress off of it. i like having a week or weeks to celebrate. i could never do all that celebrating in one day, i would have a heart attack from that. seriously. i think the european 12 days for christmas is the correct way and i think its sad that a hundred years ago, you had that here in usa but its totally gone now, in favor of celebrating capitalism and malls.
for easter, which is my favorite holiday, i think lazarus saturday with palm sunday and the holy week that follows it, ackowledging the miracles ... is the most important week of the year, but so many people don't know what any of that is. wonder do they even celebrate it?