Friday Follies - Is There a Christmas Without Tradition?

The whole Christmas celebration is based on traditions - Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day, the tree, the gifts, Santa and the elves and reindeer...it goes on and on.  But within these larger cultural conventions, each family has its own holiday traditions that they hold near and dear.  As the kids grow up and form their own families, some traditions are added, some are dropped, and so it goes for the next generations after that.

Oh, the struggle is real.

When we were little, the Christmas Tree did not get put up until after my birthday.  Having a December birthday is always difficult, with all of the special annual celebrations lumped into one month.  Birthdays often get pushed to the side or the gifts put together with a combination birthday/Christmas gift.  People are busy and can't come to parties and it all just becomes a messy few weeks.  Mum and Dad tried to counteract this by not having 'Christmas' appear in our house until after my birthday.  It was only a few years ago that I realised that I'm actually an adult now (okay, I realised I was an adult before that...), and I don't have to wait until after my birthday to decorate our tree and our house.  Phew, that's a load off my mind as I can now do it when it is convenient, not cram it in when I have little time.

The after birthday tree

Another family custom emerged from our family being a mix of Canadian and Australian.  As Canada is a day behind Australia, it was decided that one - and only one - Australian Christmas present could be opened on Christmas Eve, as it was already Christmas Day in Australia.  That was a pretty good tradition to have as a child.  Of course, if we were German, we could have opened all of our gifts on Christmas Eve as is their tradition.  Thanks Mum and Dad.....or is that 'danke'??

Mum created another routine for our family on Christmas Eve.  She knew that the next day would be full of kitchen duties, and usually there was a lot of cooking involved in parties and pot lucks leading up to the big day.  Being a practical woman, Mum decided that Christmas Eve dinner was always take-away, and usually Chinese.  I love this tradition and while we may not always have Chinese food, we definitely don't do any cooking on Christmas Eve.  For those who know me, when I say we, I mean me.

Another offshoot of being part Aussie is that we grew up having a Santa Sack, which was the size of a pillowcase, and we pinned it to the arms of the couch or a chair.  All of our Santa gifts went in there (unless we were lucky enough that they were too big).  I'll never forget the first time I realised that this was not the norm in Canada - it was Christmas Stockings all the way.  The other kids thought we were greedy, but we weren't - we got the same amount of gifts, it was just that more of ours were in the Santa Sack.

At the bottom of our Santa Sacks were usually some type of chocolates - most years it was a bag of gold chocolate coins.  Christmas and Easter were the only times that we were allowed to gorge on chocolate before breakfast - and we took full advantage of it!

When we moved out, we had our own places and of course had our own trees to decorate.  With that came the tradition of being given at least one Christmas ornament or decoration every year.  I love this one, and whenever family travels overseas and is able, they get me a new Christmas decoration.  My tree is now full of ornaments that have memories attached to them, and each year I love decorating the tree, rediscovering and reminiscing. 

You can't go wrong with cat Christmas decorations

My brother went down another road in his mis-spent youth.  When he lived in a share house in university with 3-4 other guys, their tree was decorated with condoms.  It did throw my grandmother for a bit of a loop when she realised what was actually on the tree.  I'm pretty sure that my brother would not like to carry on this tradition now that he has kids...although they might think it's hilarious!

The struggle is real

Decorating the tree is another time that family traditions die hard.  In our house, Mum and I used to go and choose a real tree.  It was Dad's job to untangle, check and hang the lights.  This was a very involved job that required at least a couple of glasses of scotch, volumes of swearing, and everyone else leaving him alone until he was finished.  Once the lights were twinkling on the tree, Mum and I (sometimes my brother...not so much when he got older) decorated the tree.  The tradition sort of continues at our house now, except I don't drink scotch while doing the lights, but after our first year together, I wrote a 'Christmas Light Agreement' that Shawn and I both signed, and it states that I will put up the lights on the tree, and I will do it alone.  This agreement has done wonders for our marriage, and I hope it will continue to be honoured into the future.  Once the tree is decorated and other Christmas delights are placed around the house, Shawn puts the star on the tree as the final touch.

I'm sure that Tangle Fairies live in storage with the lights

Probably my most popular tradition is my Christmas baking tradition.  I must have started it in my 20's.  I love Christmas and I love baking, so it all seems to work out pretty well.  I usually start baking in late October, early November, and I try and make a variety of different goodies.  I always include Scotch Shortbread, using my Grandmother's recipe.  I can never get it to taste quite as good as hers did, but I feel close to her while I'm making it (and eating it!), and I will continue to make that every year until I die.  Which will make everyone around me happy as I am pretty sure that there would be a rebellion if I ever stopped my annual gifts of assorted homemade Christmas treats.  I love doing it though, and I can't imagine Christmas without those wonderful smells in the kitchen.

No dogs were harmed in the making of this baking

Traditions are wonderful things, comforting you and making you feel secure because you know what is going to happen and when.  They make occasions special. I think it's great for traditions to be adaptable and flexible, helping them to endure in some form through the generations.
And so I wish a very Merry Christmas to all, and an amazing 2018 to you and your families.

Why doesn't Santa get me these stockings??

(I will be taking a break over the holidays, and will see you back here in 2018!)