Christmas Traditions

The day before we left Chicago for Shanghai, Dave and I sat around his family dinner table with a few of his family members discussing family traditions. Dave's family has observed the same Christmas Eve and Christmas Day routines for years - they have very clear Christmas Day traditions. His brother in-law shared how his family has NO Christmas Day traditions. He was quite adamant about the lack, and his wife agreed. No routine for the day.

I sat quietly, thinking about what my family's traditions may be. Our Christmas Day has always been rather simple. Presents immediately in the morning, but only after everyone was awake. Breakfast afterward, something tasty but pre-made, like coffeecake. Dinner of ham or turkey at around 1:00pm. And an otherwise quiet day spent playing with new toys and enjoying each other's company.

Not a day filled with tradition.

But what I've come to realize is that my family's traditions come during the Advent season. We have always shopped together for a live Christmas tree. I have memories of trudging through snow deeper than my ankles to find the perfect tree; always passing up the first one that seemed pretty good, only to return to that perfect tree after our boots had let in the wet and the wind has seeped into our ears. Hot chocolate and candy canes while we stood around the little window to pay, and feeling far away and in the midst of a forest. We bake. We bake cookies like nobody's business - a cake saver full of sugar cookies, some frosted and some left plain; my grandmother's snow-on-plowed-field recipe; cherry bon-bons; peppermint patties; macaroons; and always at least one new recipe. And then there's pie. My mom would make 2-3 pies for Christmas Dinner, leaving her cooking them throughout the upcoming week. The weeks leading up to Christmas would see her counterspace lessen on a daily basis, as tins of different types of cookies and pies began to pile up. And the Advent Calendar. We read the same Advent Calendar together every night of Advent for as long as I can remember. I now have the calendar, and we've been reading it with the girls this year.

So, to return to our home on December 21st did not leave me too disappointed. I experienced my family's traditions this year. We picked out a live tree with Nana and Poppa. The girls helped my mom make Christmas cookies. We decorated the house together. And we all read the Advent Calendar together in a hushed silence, every night. These are my Christmas traditions, and I loved sharing them with my whole family.

So, this year we began creating our own Christmas Day traditions. For Christmas Eve dinner, we planned a homemade Italian pasta dinner, followed by Christmas cookies and hot chocolate while watching a Christmas movie. Dave picked up The Polar Express on the way home from work, and I spent all afternoon making manicotti with homemade sauce. It tasted wonderful, but one piece filled up Dave and I. The girls were too tired to try any, still suffering from jet lag. We packed them off to bed at 7:30, with promises that Santa might come early if they went to bed. They were sleeping by the time we finished the final Advent story.

Tomorrow, we'll share Dave's mother's cardamom coffeecake for breakfast; a turkey roasted for us by the kind folks at the Hilton hotel with homemade stuffing, cranberries and potatoes, and a lovely bottle of wine; plenty of hours of playing with toys, and a few hours of cookies, hot chocolate and Christmas movies. Just like the good old days.

And then supper at a local Chinese restaurant.