(If you're cool you'll know what I'm referencing in that title... Okay-okay-okay, you'll be cool even if you don't)
Tradition is a very big deal in my family. And it pretty much always has been. None of us are totally sure why it became such a big deal, but it did, and still very much is. In fact, funnily enough, it has become so integrated, so normal in our lives that when we talk to other families that don't have similar traditions (usually holiday-related) it shocks us.
My family is very tightly knit. We may all go our separate ways but we all always end up back at home for one reason or another. Or no reason at all. I am the youngest of six kids in a family total of eight. Of course now, with my oldest brother and oldest sister having kids that number is now significantly larger. But in the immediate family we are eight. Mom, Dad, my brother Tim, sisters Sue, Bon, Ruth, Sarah. And then there's little Joey (of course, as my siblings will be quick to point out, at 5' 11" and 185 lbs. I am hardly little anymore). As I have mentioned before, I am 25 years old. And almost all of those twenty five years were spent in one house; the house I and my parents still live in. This house is home. It always has been. It's where all of us return. Where we gather together. Where we share laughter, discuss everything under the Sun, share burdens, and of course we talk about each other behind each others' backs (I had to add that lest you think we are some perfect family :-D) But no matter what we go through, no matter what problems have arose between us, we all always come back home.
Because we have been so tightly knit, we have always done so much together. Sure we have had our divisions, but we have always done a lot together. A lot of it is in the form of family traditions.
Traditions are very important to my family, because traditions make things special. They set certain time periods of the year apart from the average day. They become something work toward, look forward to. And, of course, as you may have guessed from such a large family... we love any excuse to come together and eat good food.
We have holiday traditions, seasonal traditions, and other crazy little traditions. And many of them are old-fashioned; heck, a lot of our ideas came from books about old-fashioned traditions. So, I thought it would be fun to name just a few of our favorite traditions. Starting with probably our two most favorite...
Saint Patrick's Day
Perhaps you were expecting Christmas Day to be at the top of the list? Well, it comes close... But, yes, honestly for many of us in the family this Irish feast day has become the greatest family tradition we have ever kept. Maybe it's the fact that it is so perfectly timed at the beginning of Spring, when everything is feeling fresh, and new, the beautiful green colors are returning, everyone feels so much lighter, and happier, maybe even reborn after the long cold days of January and February. I'm not sure what it is exactly, but there is just something about this holiday tradition that, to me, anyway, is unparalleled. So... What do we do? How do we celebrate it?
Well, we start by preparing the house itself. The interior and windows get decorated with green streamers, leprechauns, pots of gold, shamrocks, and lots of green stuff. Morning and afternoon are spent preparing for the dinner—which is homemade Irish stew, the BEST STEW EVER, and Irish soda bread. The stew, in particular, sits in a pot on the stove cooking slowly all day, filling the house with an incredible aroma, while Celtic music plays from CDs or Pandora. Then the whole family gathers together, some of us talk in Irish accents, my brother Tim supplies us with Irish jokes that always make us laugh or groan (usually makes the parents roll their eyes), and we sit at the table, Mom recounts the tale of Saint Patrick, then we feast on stew and bread until we are bursting at the seams. Celtic music is still playing in the background this whole time, by the way. Dinner is followed by shortbread and strawberry shortcake. Usually at some point the kids all go outside in the dark (I usually follow) and play games while the adults sit around the table with full bellies and mugs of coffee, maybe a glass of Irish whiskey, or Irish beer, and discussions arise going in all sorts of directions, pretty much a free-for-all as it usually is when we're all together. Sometimes before the night is over we will break out some card games or board games as well. It's just perfect. Great food, and then just unwinding.
Christmas Season
Here it is, finally. Of course you notice I don't name this section "Christmas Day". That's because for my family Christmas really does last the entire season. And even the season itself is much longer than probably a lot of people celebrate it. As long as I can remember, Christmas season in my family has always begun before Thanksgiving. Yes, that's right. Honestly, some of us in the family begin listening to Christmas music in September. But Thanksgiving week is when it really comes into full blossom. We have had a long-standing tradition of actually decorating the house for Christmas a day or two before Thanksgiving. There is just something perfect about waking up Thanksgiving morning, Christmas decorations glistening all around, the smell of turkey hanging in the house, and the traditional Thanksgiving morning breakfast: Egg McMuffin sandwiches and hashbrowns, while we watch the Thanksgiving Parade on the television.
Our early Christmas spirits have only been aided in recent years when radio stations near us started playing non-stop Christmas music in early November.
Every day during Christmas season really does seem special, at the risk of sounding cheezy. Christmas decorations all over the house and the radio, playing Christmas music, on all day long. Then we get to December, at which point in the early days we go out tree-hunting and then bring it home and put it up. Every year since we were kids my parents have always gotten each of us a new decoration every time, and the decoration usually, though not always, has to do with something big that happened in our lives that year. Then those decorations are the first ones hung up on the tree, and then we shower the rest of the tree with decorations. Now this, and most of the following traditions are not ones we do altogether, but they are ones we do separately with our own families (passing it on to another generation).
A couple weeks leading up to Christmas, we bake an abundance Christmas cookies that get stored in containers and frequently set out on the table on a huge tray when the family comes together.
We also watch Christmas movies almost every night of the season.
Then comes Christmas Eve. Christmas Eve is perhaps the most exciting day of the season, because you feel the excitement of the approaching day, and everything seems to be getting quiet outside as people start settling down in preparation. Just as with Thanksgiving, the scent of turkey baking fills the house while Christmas music plays. Then in the evening we have turkey and stuffing and mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce and vegetables. Then, after dinner, another long-standing family tradition takes place. Again, as long as I can remember, we have had the family tradition of, every Christmas Eve, Mom and Dad give us an early Christmas present of new, fun pajamas. But that's not all. In order to get these gifts we have to go on a scavenger hunt. Mom writes out clues on pieces of paper and hides them around the house (and sometimes even outside in the night) and we take a flashlight, follow and discern the clues, and eventually find the loot. Then we get in the pajamas, gather in the living room with all lights except the Christmas lights off, get out a large tray of cookies, usually get hot chocolate, and sit by the fire and watch the classic A Christmas Story. After that is bedtime. Now, back before I was the last one of the kids at home, we also had the long-standing tradition of all of us kids would sleep in the same room that night. And we carried this on up until the very last one of us. We'd all be piled on the beds and floors in one of the upstairs rooms and usually watch TV shows or movies until we all passed out from exhaustion.
Christmas morning... Well... we used to get up super super early, and actually it got to the point where Mom had to tell us not to come in and wake them up before a certain time. However, in later years as we all got old and tired (like you do), it ironically got to the point where the parents had to wake us up. So, we'd wake up, go out into the hall where full stockings would be hanging, grab them, and then go into Mom and Dad's bedroom, sit on their bed, and open the stocking gifts. While doing that, Dad would usually slip downstairs, start the coffee makers, turn on the Christmas lights, and put on Christmas music.
Then we head downstairs, sit on the floor around the tree... and then the most torturous thing we had to do (specifically when we were kids) was take turns opening our presents. Yup. In my family there was never any ubiquitous ravenous tearing and shredding of wrapping paper... we had to go in turn, so that everyone could see what everyone got. Which was torturous as a kid... but at the same time it was fun in its own way because it made it last longer.
Following that, we'd gather at the table where breakfast was served (a breakfast called "flippers", which is essentially just fried bread dough, dipped in syrup or powdered sugar, served with various breakfast meats), and spend a few hours just laughing and talking. Then eventually go back in the living room, gather up our gifts, plop on the couches, and just go through and admire everything.
Now, in recent years because members of the immediate family have separated to start their own lives and families, what happens now as that at some point during the day the family will come together where we will continue the gift-giving and eating (left overs from Christmas Eve).
In the Past, Christmas still didn't end with Christmas Day. For us it extended until the New Year. When we were kids we would actually stay in our Christmas pajamas the entire week, wake up every morning and head for the living room and just sit on the couches all day looking through our presents and watching movies.
Christmas truly is a Season to us, not just a single day of the year. Every day of the season is just as fun and special as Christmas Day itself.
New Year's Eve and New Year's Day
The year always ends with a great big fun bang. New Year's Eve is the day upon which, if we haven't already, all the presents we have been leaving in the living room have to go into our rooms, and we all finally get out of our pajamas and back into regular clothes. Then the day is spent preparing for the—you guessed it—feast. The New Year's Eve feast is probably the most perfect way to say goodbye to the previous year and hello to the new one. The menu? Homemade meatball sandwiches, cream of broccoli soup, chips, sour cream and onion dip, pickles, crackers and spray-on cheese, and pull-apart/monkey bread for dessert. The difference between this holiday and others is that generally we don't all eat at the same place. Usually people eat in the living room, watching the Pre-Ball-Drop show, or scattered around the table, or leaning on the counters in the kitchen (which is where I usually end up). As always, we talk, joke, laugh, and usually act all 'round silly. And yes, everyone stays until Midnight. Leading up to then we usually break out some board games or card games until everyone is half-asleep... then we eat more food to wake us up. Then at 11:59PM we gather in the living room in front of the TV and watch the ball drop. With the advent of the New Year, most of us rush outside, grabbing pots and pans and wooden spoons along the way, and then we clang them and shout as loud as we can. We also take pennies that have the previous year number on them and throw them out into the darkness. After spending literally ten or fifteen minutes clanging and hollering, we make our way back in the house... and eat some more. Then everyone's usually passing out by 12:30 or 1AM, so we call it a night.
The next morning we wake up to, as with Thanksgiving, Egg McMuffin sandwiches, and usually sit in the living room and watch the New Year's Day parade... but not always... because most of the time we really don't care all that much to watch a bunch of hungover clowns (literally) dancing with umbrellas to the song "Golden Slippers"....
Then we usually conclude the day with leftover meatball sandwiches, relaxing and enjoying ourselves one last time before entering into the rush of the New Year.
Well, there are plenty more traditions to write about, but I think I will save others for a future blog. I look forward to sharing the others, and I look forward to passing these traditions down to, Lord-willing, my family. To me, tradition is just such an integral part in keep a family close together, which is something I think we need in our families now more than ever. So I hope and pray these traditions we pass on to our kids will only spread and continue through generations to come :)
Christmas truly is a Season to us, not just a single day of the year. Every day of the season is just as fun and special as Christmas Day itself.
New Year's Eve and New Year's Day
The year always ends with a great big fun bang. New Year's Eve is the day upon which, if we haven't already, all the presents we have been leaving in the living room have to go into our rooms, and we all finally get out of our pajamas and back into regular clothes. Then the day is spent preparing for the—you guessed it—feast. The New Year's Eve feast is probably the most perfect way to say goodbye to the previous year and hello to the new one. The menu? Homemade meatball sandwiches, cream of broccoli soup, chips, sour cream and onion dip, pickles, crackers and spray-on cheese, and pull-apart/monkey bread for dessert. The difference between this holiday and others is that generally we don't all eat at the same place. Usually people eat in the living room, watching the Pre-Ball-Drop show, or scattered around the table, or leaning on the counters in the kitchen (which is where I usually end up). As always, we talk, joke, laugh, and usually act all 'round silly. And yes, everyone stays until Midnight. Leading up to then we usually break out some board games or card games until everyone is half-asleep... then we eat more food to wake us up. Then at 11:59PM we gather in the living room in front of the TV and watch the ball drop. With the advent of the New Year, most of us rush outside, grabbing pots and pans and wooden spoons along the way, and then we clang them and shout as loud as we can. We also take pennies that have the previous year number on them and throw them out into the darkness. After spending literally ten or fifteen minutes clanging and hollering, we make our way back in the house... and eat some more. Then everyone's usually passing out by 12:30 or 1AM, so we call it a night.
The next morning we wake up to, as with Thanksgiving, Egg McMuffin sandwiches, and usually sit in the living room and watch the New Year's Day parade... but not always... because most of the time we really don't care all that much to watch a bunch of hungover clowns (literally) dancing with umbrellas to the song "Golden Slippers"....
Then we usually conclude the day with leftover meatball sandwiches, relaxing and enjoying ourselves one last time before entering into the rush of the New Year.
Well, there are plenty more traditions to write about, but I think I will save others for a future blog. I look forward to sharing the others, and I look forward to passing these traditions down to, Lord-willing, my family. To me, tradition is just such an integral part in keep a family close together, which is something I think we need in our families now more than ever. So I hope and pray these traditions we pass on to our kids will only spread and continue through generations to come :)
No comments:
Post a Comment