Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Holiday traditions

A college friend of mine posted on facebook that she was archiving her family holiday traditions, and then posed the question, "What are yours?"

Most of my holiday traditions from my adult life were either carried over from my childhood (cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve) or are a function of my cantoring job (multiple masses to sing on Christmas Eve and/or Day.) But there are a few things that don't fall into those categories:
  • Stockings for the grown-ups, as well as the kids
  • Cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning -- only the Pillsbury-in-a-can kind will do. But now that I think of it, we may have had them when I was a kid.
  • Christmas breakfast casserole -- a make-ahead dish that just needs to be popped in the oven in the morning
  • Church for the whole family on Christmas Eve or Day, depending on when I'm singing
  • Santa leaving some presents unwrapped
  • Earl reading "The Night Before Christmas" to the kids on Christmas Eve -- something that his dad always did when Earl and his sister were younger
  • Gingerbread or eggnog wreath cake
  • A new tradition: the Christmas Donut
  • Another new tradition: the "green" (e-mailed) Christmas card
  • Yet another new tradition: Family carol-singing. The kids are old enough to know the words now, and I accompany on piano. It warms my musician's heart.

I'm hoping that the various illnesses that made their way through our family a couple of weeks ago will not become a new holiday tradition.

And now, it's time to get started on another personal tradition: the impossible New Year's Resolution list. You know, the one that specifies I'll be in the best shape of my life by the summer; I'll never speak crossly to my children again; I'll exercise 6 days out of every 7 and will get at least 8 hours of sleep every night.

Maybe it's time for a new tradition to replace the old: making a resolution or two that I can actually keep. Stay tuned.

1 comment:

MapleMama said...

Nice list! Some of ours include:
- a new ornament (for everyone) every year
- Christmas pillowcases that go on your pillows about 10 days before Christmas
- a pre-toddler tradition was midnight mass, birthday cake afterward (my Mom's b'day is Christmas day) and then opening our gifts around 2am.

Hope you had a wonderful holiday!