Day Two: Tradition
Honor your heritage, your holidays of childhood, your significant
other’s nostalgic moments.
This is the time of year when traditional foods are made, sometimes as a group activity. We have special rolls, called Aunt Joyce’s Rolls, which my aunts, cousins and I have made over the years. It’s a multi-day process, but they are so delicious! My Grandma Long, my dad's mom, made sugar cookie cut-outs, shaped as angels, bells, ornaments that she decorated with different colored icing. My cousin makes them now with her two daughters.
This is the time of year when traditional foods are made, sometimes as a group activity. We have special rolls, called Aunt Joyce’s Rolls, which my aunts, cousins and I have made over the years. It’s a multi-day process, but they are so delicious! My Grandma Long, my dad's mom, made sugar cookie cut-outs, shaped as angels, bells, ornaments that she decorated with different colored icing. My cousin makes them now with her two daughters.
Chris and I have holiday CDs
we always listen to and movies we watch (“Scrooge” starring Albert Finney is
one). My dad was a big Elvis fan and we always listened to Elvis's Christmas albums. I still listen to it, with much fondness ~ I am immediately transported back to the home on Prairie Street; I can see the tree, the decorations, the ceramics my mom painted so beautifully, the front windows with the spray-painted frost (even tho we would always have plenty of the real stuff in northwest Indiana!!). I remember Christmas Eves spent in our pajamas, getting to open one gift, playing Silent Night on my little organ and swearing that I could see the red from Rudolph's nose off in the distant, dark sky. Christmas morning, my brother and I would wait until 7 (I think) to run into our parents' room and wake them. The anticipation of what would be under the tree making us jittery! My dad would put on his Elvis album, my brother and I would be sitting on the floor at the base of the tree and we would all begin to open our Christmas joys.
In our hometown, there was a house that decorated with animatronics and other scenes set to music. As a child, my family would hop into the car one cold evening and head over to wait in line for our turn to see this truly magnificent display. Once you got close, you turned off your headlights and rolled down the windows, to begin hearing the music. When Chris and I got together, it became a tradition of ours, too. It was pure magic!! (I always wondered how high their utility bills must have been all those weeks for decades! What a gift to give our whole city...maybe beyond.)
My aunts and I used to make
ornaments and wreaths for gifts. I have many on our tree still to this day, lovingly made by my Aunt Sharon. My
family, on my dad’s side, has always sent Christmas cards, too. While I have pared down my list (the price
of stamps has gotten ridiculous!), I can’t resist buying a box or two during my
post-Christmas shopping. I will begin my cards this week, which is late for me!!!
Continue the
traditions you have and make new ones for the years ahead.
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