When you recall your favorite holiday memories, what do they usually include? Many times, these great stories begin with seasonal family traditions that survive generations. As great storytellers, we at WordWrite wanted to share our favorite holiday traditions with you, and we encourage you to share yours with us, too. Who knows, we may have some of the same traditions, or they might just be completely off-the-wall whacky!
Jess:
I have a big family, and we all love Christmas, so our holiday celebrations are always a blast.
On Christmas Eve, my mom’s side of the family goes to my grandma’s house. Our dinner is different each year, but we never celebrate without the cookies and my grandma’s homemade bread, pizzelles and baklava. A lot of my mom’s family lives out of town, so the crowd varies each year. If we’re not all there in person, we call everyone who couldn’t make it in and put them on speaker. The whole family is talking so we usually can’t hear what anyone is actually saying, but it’s nice to hear their voice. Before bed, we leave cookies, milk and reindeer food out. I will never be too old for that.
On Christmas Day, my family begins the day by waking up at 7 a.m., thanks to me. (Each year, my sister tries to wake up later, but I always win that fight.) We exchange gifts and enjoy more of my grandma’s bread. Then, my dad’s side of the family always comes to our house for dinner. We’re big game players so we spend hours playfully arguing over who won each game.
Each year, the cookies may differ and the time of dinner may shift, but my favorite tradition always remains the same. I love being with my family, whether it’s in person or over the phone. Of course, I look forward to my grandma’s bread too!
Rachel:
Christmas Eve is quite possibly my favorite day of the year. When having a partially Italian background and a massive propensity towards seafood, how could I not salivate over the Feast of the Seven Fishes?
Many of you are likely familiar, but for those who aren’t, it involves cooking seven different fish or seafood plates for Christmas Eve dinner. Although the reasoning behind it differs from family to family, it’s meant to be a celebration leading up to Jesus’ birth at midnight, while still refraining from eating meat until the clock strikes. (Leave it to Italians to find a way out of a fast.) There are many theories behind the significance of the number seven, which I will spare you from, but eating at least seven seafood dishes will bring you good luck in the New Year—or at least that’s what I’ve been told.
Here’s where my family’s experience gets a little different: we actually average about 13 different fish or seafood dishes each year; almost all of them are deep-fried. In fact, I think the only dish that isn’t fried is the spaghetti that has finely chopped anchovies in the sauce. Sometimes, we have a vegetable dish, but I don’t think I’ve ever actually put it on my plate. My aunt (and previously, my late grandmother) will spend the entire day in the kitchen next to the deep fryer, and you better believe the entire shindig is run on a tight schedule—wardrobe changes and all. On top of that, our family’s quantity of Christmas cookies rivals that of a cookie table at a Pittsburgh wedding. My grandma’s pizzelle recipe will forever go unmatched, but the cream cheese cookies are my personal favorite.
Christy:
My family traditions have certainly evolved over the years, as I’ve moved from coast to coast, parents got divorced and we’ve lost some of our loved ones. But one thing has remained the same – our competitive and humorous spirit.
One of my favorite traditions is having game night with the family. My family, as well as my better half’s family, love playing games like Catchphrase and Apples to Apples. We lose track of time and could play these for hours on end, and I wouldn’t trade that for anything because in the end my favorite part of the holidays is time spent with my family and friends.
And when all else fails, we laugh together until our sides hurt. At least it makes for a good workout to burn all of the calories in holiday food.
John:
I am like Rachel. Christmas Eve is a time for me to showcase my cooking skills in preparing the Seven Fishes. My family loves it and you’ve not lived until you have seen a four year old try to eat calamari.
Jeremy:
For many years when my wife and I were first married, we had to travel six or seven hours to visit her family or my family during the holidays. Thankfully, we moved back to Pittsburgh in 2008, allowing us to be in the same city as one set of parents (mine).
Because we have younger children, it’s still a challenge to travel and stay somewhere else, so my wife’s parents always make the trip to see us.
They’re both retired, which makes it convenient for them to extend their trip for up to a week, and a unique aspect of their visit centers around their accommodations. My parents and her parents get along quite well, and her parents stay in one of my parents’ extra bedrooms.
In addition to the cost savings her parents enjoy from that arrangement, this set up also allows our kids to pick one night and have a sleepover with all four grandparents. That’s a special time for the children and grandparents to share with each other at least once during the holidays. My wife and I look the other way in terms of what the kids are allowed to eat and how late they can stay up each of those occasions, because we know how much it means to our parents . . . who never let us stay up that late when we were that age!
Hollie:
Without family close by, our holidays usually involve some sort of travel. Now that we have kids, creating memories at home is becoming more of a focus for us—even if it means inviting a certain annoying little elf (Marley) into our home each season! We’re getting more creative with his antics too, which is kind of fun for the kids. (Today he wrapped himself up in a toilet paper roll and took a ride down the stairs, for example.)
As for some other traditions, I usually cook (yes, I do cook one day out of the year!) a nice dinner at home on Christmas Eve before we head to the candlelight service at our church. Afterwards, we walk over to our neighbor’s house for goodies and cocktails—a fun time we all look forward to each year. Before bed, we give the kids a Christmas box to open with some PJ’s and small gifts. They love to put reindeer food in the snow outside (if we have any) and set out cookies and milk for Santa. When the kids are sound asleep, my husband and I enjoy some “quiet” time putting together toys and watching Christmas movies. The noise level depends on the difficulty of the toy Mike is assembling…
Truthfully, it’s our time to marvel at the year that has passed and rejoice in the beautiful family we have created.
After all the presents are opened on Christmas morning, we load up the car to visit family four hours away—for more food, presents and quality time with those we love.
Paul:
Brenda and I both have deep family roots in Eastern Europe and though the languages (Bohemian, Polish, Slovak) are slightly different, the traditions are similar. There’s one Polish tradition from Brenda’s family that particular brings a smile to my face. Her dad likes a Polish delicacy called Czernina, or duck’s blood soup. For whatever reason, this is a New Year’s tradition in Brenda’s family, and other than her dad, a good family friend named Lenny Jab who has since passed away, and me, nobody really eats it. My father-in-law, particularly in the years before Brenda and I got married, was always quick to remind me that other than the holidays, the main purpose of Czernina is to be served to young men who want to marry into the family – after their request for marriage has been rejected! Luckily for me, Czernina was never served to me under those conditions and some 35 years later, this is one holiday tradition (and laugh) I enjoy sharing with my father-in-law.
We hope you all have a happy holiday season. Now that we’ve shared our traditions, we’d love to hear yours!
