How fun to read about your traditions, Sue! And I love the phrase, "kin-keepers."
I celebrate Winter Solstice rather than Christmas, and on Solstice evening, I line my walk and front porch with luminarias (a votive candle on a scoop of sand in a paper lunch bag) and leave them to burn through the longest night to bring the light back. I also make homemade eggnog, the real kind, separating the yolks and whites, "pickling" the yolks in and enriching them with cream, and whipping the whites to make the nog foamy, and invite friends and family to share the rich eggnog and other treats.
BTW, in my family, we call Russian teacakes, "Mexican wedding cookies." But my mom always made them at Christmas, along with a dozen other kinds of cookies. Go figure!
My mom also called Russian teacakes "Mexican wedding cakes." I recall her being told that the name was based on the nuts used, but who knows? So much culinary lore and history. Thanks for commeting!
I love A Christmas Carol with George C. Scott. We keep a list of Christmas carols and sometimes do a sing along. Every year I do put up the nativity scene. We used to leave baby Jesus out of the scene until Christmas morning.
We traveled for many years over the holidays, with winter break a good time for us with no family obligations, as our family members were far-flung. In post-paid work life, we continued simple holiday traditions of a displaying ornaments, hanging a woven wool stocking, and the like. Nothing extravagant. I've always enjoyed playing holiday music, so was able to expand that, and after a few years of revisiting enjoyable cookie baking, have simplified things there, too. We always enjoyed Christmas Eve services wherever we were in the world, and have continued that here in North Carolina. (We're solidly ecumenical, but the music is always inspiring).
Last year, we had an Austrian Christmas dinner with a pork roast and Knoedel, celebrating my hubbie's Austrian heritage (and recent dual citizenship); this year, we'll actually be in Vienna and Salzburg at holiday time, so it should be quite the suitable atmosphere for the holidays. We'll be in HomeExchange places, so perhaps I'll do a simple dinner at home, or perhaps we'll go out.
A search in my first blog, Natural Gardening, pulled up these posts, reflections of Christmases past: http://naturalgardening.blogspot.com/search?q=Christmas I notice that I used the Christmas image from Lecce several times for these thoughts. They were such beautiful decorations.
Lovely! In some ways I am a tradition resister. I always feel a bit overwhelmed in December as we celebrate 3 family birthdays (plus a 4th and 5th just over into January) and our wedding anniversary in addition to the cultural holidays. We have changed some of our traditions in recent years, due in large part to me going on strike on massive cookie baking and making sure everyone gets all their favorite foods. We also have gone non-traditional on gifting. Our new tradition of playing Thieves' Christmas was a huge hit and no one misses the commercial frenzy of mainstream Christmas. Considering my favorite movies, I realized that probably all three center on poking fun at artificially upholding traditions and invite us to consider what truly makes the season memorable. A Christmas Story, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, and The Grinch. I also still enjoy Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol.
I resist the consumerism 100%. I don't buy presents instead I gift an herbal cold care kit or raspberry preserves from my garden to a few friends. I did the crazy cooking and baking for a decade and finally said no more. Outside of decorating my tree, it's relaxed. What is Thieves' Christmas?
Everyone who wants to play purchases one gift. It’s fine to be an observer and just watch the goofy fun if you want. Everyone who plays places their unlabeled gift on a table. All players sit in a circle. Numbers equaling the number of players goes into a hat and each person draws one. That reveals order of play. First player chooses whatever gift they want and opens it in front of everyone. Player #2 has the option of stealing player #1’s gift or choosing a new one and opening in front of everyone. Play continues like this. For example, Player #3 can steal the gift of #1 or #2 or open a new one. If your gift is stolen you get to either steal from someone else or open a new one. Although there are lots of rules you can agree on, we agree that any one gift can only be stolen 3 times. When the final player opens a gift or steals and there are no more gifts the game ends and everyone wins because everyone ends up with a gift. I should add that in our family only adults play. Kids (we only have two grandchildren who are still babies) get gifts that they can keep and that is totally separate from playing Thieves’ Christmas. We set a $20 cap on gifts because the point is the fun of the play. Homemade gifts or second-hand upcycles are fine. Sometimes they’re serious, sometimes absurdly silly joke gifts. We love this game because our family has always loved playing games together. I promise that no one gets mad and it’s only competitive in the most humorous way. I guess we have been playing this for about the past 10 years since our youngest was a teen. I guess it has become one of our new “traditions”.
What a great idea! I have heard of this but I think it was called something different. My family is so small and not close so I don't have anyone to play with!
Our family LOVES playing games together. It is the central part of every get together and I realize that this, too, is a tradition that I want to hold onto. Our family really does know how to laugh and play together. I value that.
I love the made-for-tv movie with Ed Asner. "The Gathering." It speaks to my generation especially ("prodigal" son whose been in Canada for years as a result of Vietnam war draft/dissension). It's a great lost movie.
How fun to read about your traditions, Sue! And I love the phrase, "kin-keepers."
I celebrate Winter Solstice rather than Christmas, and on Solstice evening, I line my walk and front porch with luminarias (a votive candle on a scoop of sand in a paper lunch bag) and leave them to burn through the longest night to bring the light back. I also make homemade eggnog, the real kind, separating the yolks and whites, "pickling" the yolks in and enriching them with cream, and whipping the whites to make the nog foamy, and invite friends and family to share the rich eggnog and other treats.
BTW, in my family, we call Russian teacakes, "Mexican wedding cookies." But my mom always made them at Christmas, along with a dozen other kinds of cookies. Go figure!
I learned about Solstice when I was an adult! I do a quiet celebration on Solstice - lit candles (inside), and in the last decade, I often make one of the recipes from the Gather Victoria website (https://gathervictoria.com/2023/12/12/lutzelfrau-st-lucy-tarts-a-tale-of-winter-solstice-food-magic/) and with a hot drink of some kind. I am not an egg nog drinker - too rich for me.
My mom also called Russian teacakes "Mexican wedding cakes." I recall her being told that the name was based on the nuts used, but who knows? So much culinary lore and history. Thanks for commeting!
I love It's a Wonderful Life and Gremlins.
Every Christmas Day I make a nut roast with a spicy tomato sauce and serve it with potatoes and veg, then for pudding I make a trifle.
I love It's A Wonderful Life! Nut loaves can be delicious! A trifle - I don't think I have ever tasted or even seen one. Thanks for your comment.
I love A Christmas Carol with George C. Scott. We keep a list of Christmas carols and sometimes do a sing along. Every year I do put up the nativity scene. We used to leave baby Jesus out of the scene until Christmas morning.
Sing alongs sound like fun though I couldn't carry a tune if my life depended on it.
We traveled for many years over the holidays, with winter break a good time for us with no family obligations, as our family members were far-flung. In post-paid work life, we continued simple holiday traditions of a displaying ornaments, hanging a woven wool stocking, and the like. Nothing extravagant. I've always enjoyed playing holiday music, so was able to expand that, and after a few years of revisiting enjoyable cookie baking, have simplified things there, too. We always enjoyed Christmas Eve services wherever we were in the world, and have continued that here in North Carolina. (We're solidly ecumenical, but the music is always inspiring).
Last year, we had an Austrian Christmas dinner with a pork roast and Knoedel, celebrating my hubbie's Austrian heritage (and recent dual citizenship); this year, we'll actually be in Vienna and Salzburg at holiday time, so it should be quite the suitable atmosphere for the holidays. We'll be in HomeExchange places, so perhaps I'll do a simple dinner at home, or perhaps we'll go out.
A search in my first blog, Natural Gardening, pulled up these posts, reflections of Christmases past: http://naturalgardening.blogspot.com/search?q=Christmas I notice that I used the Christmas image from Lecce several times for these thoughts. They were such beautiful decorations.
How exciting to spend the holidays in Europe! Definitely on my bucket list. Thanks for your comment.
Lovely! In some ways I am a tradition resister. I always feel a bit overwhelmed in December as we celebrate 3 family birthdays (plus a 4th and 5th just over into January) and our wedding anniversary in addition to the cultural holidays. We have changed some of our traditions in recent years, due in large part to me going on strike on massive cookie baking and making sure everyone gets all their favorite foods. We also have gone non-traditional on gifting. Our new tradition of playing Thieves' Christmas was a huge hit and no one misses the commercial frenzy of mainstream Christmas. Considering my favorite movies, I realized that probably all three center on poking fun at artificially upholding traditions and invite us to consider what truly makes the season memorable. A Christmas Story, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, and The Grinch. I also still enjoy Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol.
I resist the consumerism 100%. I don't buy presents instead I gift an herbal cold care kit or raspberry preserves from my garden to a few friends. I did the crazy cooking and baking for a decade and finally said no more. Outside of decorating my tree, it's relaxed. What is Thieves' Christmas?
Everyone who wants to play purchases one gift. It’s fine to be an observer and just watch the goofy fun if you want. Everyone who plays places their unlabeled gift on a table. All players sit in a circle. Numbers equaling the number of players goes into a hat and each person draws one. That reveals order of play. First player chooses whatever gift they want and opens it in front of everyone. Player #2 has the option of stealing player #1’s gift or choosing a new one and opening in front of everyone. Play continues like this. For example, Player #3 can steal the gift of #1 or #2 or open a new one. If your gift is stolen you get to either steal from someone else or open a new one. Although there are lots of rules you can agree on, we agree that any one gift can only be stolen 3 times. When the final player opens a gift or steals and there are no more gifts the game ends and everyone wins because everyone ends up with a gift. I should add that in our family only adults play. Kids (we only have two grandchildren who are still babies) get gifts that they can keep and that is totally separate from playing Thieves’ Christmas. We set a $20 cap on gifts because the point is the fun of the play. Homemade gifts or second-hand upcycles are fine. Sometimes they’re serious, sometimes absurdly silly joke gifts. We love this game because our family has always loved playing games together. I promise that no one gets mad and it’s only competitive in the most humorous way. I guess we have been playing this for about the past 10 years since our youngest was a teen. I guess it has become one of our new “traditions”.
What a great idea! I have heard of this but I think it was called something different. My family is so small and not close so I don't have anyone to play with!
We used to do that at my office. It was a lot of fun!
Our family LOVES playing games together. It is the central part of every get together and I realize that this, too, is a tradition that I want to hold onto. Our family really does know how to laugh and play together. I value that.
I love the made-for-tv movie with Ed Asner. "The Gathering." It speaks to my generation especially ("prodigal" son whose been in Canada for years as a result of Vietnam war draft/dissension). It's a great lost movie.
I have not heard of that movie but liked Ed Asner. I will check on youtube!