Christmas traditions

Hi neighbors. Although we have had some cold, windy days, we have also had some nice ones. Enough nice ones to decorate the house and yard. Do you put up simple, colored lights on your roof or do you go all out with lights, a sleigh and reindeer, inflated snowmen or elves, candles lining the sidewalk and lots of lighted animals shaped from wire frames?

There are lots of ways to decorate for the season and lots of latitude in your choices. Although I don’t decorate much anymore, I consider myself a bit of a traditionalist when it comes to seasonal decorations.

I like manger scenes, carolers and horse-drawn sleighs complete with jingle bells. I enjoy wreaths on the doors, fireplaces with stockings and garlands and scented candles all around.

And the tree! Oh, my! What magic the Christmas tree symbolized to my childhood family and me. Decorating the tree was a family affair. Mom was always in charge of the breakable and quite old, painted glass balls. My brother and I were in charge of throwing on the icicles and hanging the garlands. Although we tried to make edible garlands, we never completed any of them without eating them first. We did successfully complete and hang on the tree some paper snowflakes and even long garlands of red and green construction paper chains we had made at school.

My Dad had the job of choosing the tree and getting it home. Whether we went to his cousin “The Crazy Irishman’s” farm for a cedar tree or to a store selling more fashionable trees, my father was the one who welded the ax or the wallet. Once getting the tree home, set up in it’s bucket and watered, Dad was done with the decorating and spent his time watching us and drinking alcohol free eggnog.

One year we changed the order of things and decided we would use a tumbleweed for a Christmas tree. We had read about it in our classrooms and we lived in Kansas so tumbleweeds were in abundance. Although I was enthusiastic, my brother and mother were more dubious and my father was dismayed.

My father was born and raised in Missouri and any change in a good old Missouri tradition for the sake of a Kansas folly seemed very inappropriate to him.

My father relented, with the stipulation that a “real” Christmas tree is put up before Christmas Day and that the tumbleweed eventually be burned in the trash barrel. The tumbleweed looked more sparse than sparkling as few decorations could be used because it was too fragile to hold their weight.

I have to admit, we were all glad to see the dismal tumbleweed roll on out the door and a real Christmas tree take its place Christmas Eve.

We always spent Christmas at home when growing up. Thanksgivings were always spent at Grandmother’s farm in Missouri.

I compare my own childhood to that of my children. While my mother was still living we always split our holidays with both sets of grandparents. It was always a juggling act to get to see everyone for both holidays – but we did it!

It’s nice to look back and see our family traditions linking like a red and green paper chain around the memories of holidays of the past. I hope you and your family have these same fond memories, and are making more of them this season!

Take lots of pictures of wrapping presents, writing cards and letters and sharing stories of holidays past. Keep the memories and traditions alive in your family.