Our Christmas Traditions

Every family has their own Christmas Traditions, and depending on how devout the family is, going to Church on Christmas Eve would be one of them. My family was Anglican, but as our town did not have an Anglican Priest, we went to the United Church, and I do remember attending a Christmas Eve service a couple of times. One in particular, made me so proud (I was around 8), because the Minister borrowed our phonograph and our record of the Messiah. Everyone sat and listened to ‘our’ music! Having Church as part of our tradition did not last for much of my youth, and Christmas Eve was a time to play some card games and to start working on a puzzle; we were not allowed to open any gifts, but there would be many different baked goods, including ‘fudge’ and my Mom’s famous (to me) Coconut Macaroons. Also, during this Christmas Eve day my Mother would have made Lemon Meringue pies (with a graham wafer crust) for the Christmas dinner dessert. On Christmas morning our stockings would have been left by Santa, and they would be filled with candies, perhaps a small toy and a Japanese orange (they were sooooooooo good – and were a once a year treat) and then of course a lump of coal! We would then have to get out of our PJs and get dressed, have breakfast together as a family (only time of the year that we did) THEN the dishes had to be washed, dried and put away. At the same time, in our small kitchen the turkey would be prepared for the oven. And only then – the presents, the excitement of finally finding out ‘if” we got what you were hoping for. Soon the floor would be covered in wrapping paper, and everyone would have their gifts beside them. Poor Dad, his pile always seems so small! Some years the gifts were great – but some were definitely disappointments. Some of our relatives lived on farms (and regardless of what day it was the livestock had to be fed and the cows milked in the evening) so guests would usually arrive fairly early in the day, and we would have the meal around 3 in the afternoon. Even if we had guests who were not farmers, anyone from any distance away had to allow for a possible winter storm that would slow down their travel. During the day and early evening, games would be played, puzzles worked on – similar as we do today, except the games would be darts, croquet, canasta, cribbage, snakes and ladders – no computer games or Christmas TV shows to watch... My Grandfather, Aunt and her son never came to our home for Christmas – perhaps my Grandfather did not want to travel the 12 miles – but I did celebrate at his home a few times. One year is vivid in my memory; I could not go to sleep no matter how hard I tried. I was about 4 or 5 and slept upstairs in the farm house, and remember my Aunt hollering up the stairway – “OK Santa is at the end of the drive-way right now, and if you are not asleep in one minute – he is going to leave”! Shocker – go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleep! Santa being the great person he is, came back – because in the morning my stocking was filled to the brim including, of course, a lump of coal. Christmas at Grandpa’s had one extra bit of magic to it, and that happened on Christmas Eve. The tree, always spruce in the area that we lived, would be in the corner of the living room, decorated with tinsel, garland, etc. and with real candles! The candles were about the length of a birthday candle and sat on metal holders that were attached to the upper boughs of the tree. Everyone would gather around, and turning off all the lamps in the house, except for one to allow my Aunt to see as she would light all the candles on the tree. Then she would turn off her lamp and we would all stare at this wonderful tree with the candles flickering lights reflecting on all the decorations, and then we would sing a carol. Magic – yes. But think how dangerous this tradition was - I wonder how many people burned down their homes of Christmas Eve! But, the same as it happens today – suddenly it is gone for another year. What a long time to wait for another Japanese orange and my Mom’s famous (to me) coconut macaroons!