Deanna Beaver
Merriam-Webster says traditions are inherited, established, or customary thought, activity, or behavior patterns.
I believe an action can become a tradition when it repeats itself consistently over the years. No matter how you acquire them—passed down, stolen from others, made up yourself—I like Christmas traditions.
Growing up, Christmas to me was exciting. I remember having to go all the way, sixty-five miles, to SEARS Department Store in Savannah to see Santa. Yes, we had stockings with our names.
Over the years, different trees appeared in our house—my favorite was the Frasier Fur, which is, in my opinion, the actual Christmas Tree. But one year, we had a pine tree my daddy cut down on our farm. At the time, I thought we must have been the poorest people in the world to resort to cutting down a regular pine tree instead of purchasing a real one. I had no idea other people did the same thing. I was clueless that it was fashionable—we were so chic back then. The only pine tree I had seen used as a Christmas tree was poor Charlie Brown’s—ours was actually full and pretty.
We had beautiful glass ornaments on our tree trimmed with silver tinsel. I remember stringing popcorn one year for garland. My mom always made this a fun event. Our topping was a glass star ornament.
Regarding outdoor decorations, we had a bright yellow star on our front porch. The bulbs on the wire structure looked like popcorn balls. It was for our pleasure because few people drove out in the country looking at decorations. Today, I choose to have wreaths on my outdoor windows. It reminds me of storybook houses.
My church always had a caroling hayride. My daddy would supply the truck and hay bales. We stopped at houses on dirt roads to sing our hearts out. It was fabulous.
I’m not sure where we went on Christmas Eve as a child. It was probably church. Still, I remember coming back into the dirt driveway, and someone said, “Look, there are Santa’s Sleigh marks.” I was initially skeptical, but then the excitement of what tomorrow would bring kept my spirits high. That night, my brother told me he heard Roudolph’s feet on the rooftop. I listened with all of my might and couldn’t distinguish the sound. He said, “You better go to sleep, or Santa won’t come down the chimney.” It never occurred to me to wake up during the night to peek. I was such a rule follower in my early days. (My kids set up a video camera to catch Santa.) When we woke up on Christmas morning, we would run to the den and see presents from Santa unwrapped under the tree.
That changed when I married Joe. Everyone gets their own Santa wrapping paper at our house now. Yes, it says from Santa. I told my children Santa would always come to my house.
Then, in fourth grade, Mrs. Wilson read The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus by Julie Lane. As a teacher, I wonder if she had to get our parents’ signatures to read and reveal this touchy subject. My childhood traditions seemed to fade with the new revelation of truth and reason. I found a copy of this book when my kids started questioning the validity of the old man in a red suit. It explains how Santa’s spirit of giving started when he was only a boy. Why he comes down a chimney is described practically. I thought it was genius. Over the years, I have recommended it to many parents.
My traditions started in 1988 when Joe and I celebrated our first Christmas as a married couple. Joe’s family was in Western New York and went to midnight mass and out to eat on Christmas Eve. The first time I experienced midnight mass, it was a holy event. From then on, we attended church services on Christmas Eve.
Joe and I added more traditions when our firstborn was four months old. One of my dear friends showed me her collection of her daughter’s visits with SANTA in Christmas picture frames over the years. I always loved the 17-month-old obligatory crying baby. It was a rite of passage.
Santa brings a new ornament in our stockings each year, which signifies an important event, vacation, or particular interest.
When I started teaching school in 1983, different families’ traditions were introduced to me that would change my trajectory of how I would begin to celebrate Christmas. I learned how people celebrated Christmas around the world.
One of my former students had a neat tradition in his family. Every year, he got to participate in decorating his grandparents’ tree. The caveat was that he also got to choose one ornament he wanted to take home to his tree. Guess what Haley and Elijah, my grandchildren, get to do this year.
After church services on Christmas Eve, we would go to a Japanese Hibachi restaurant for dinner. We ran into some good friends several years in a row and decided to join forces. We invited more families to join and reached twenty-seven to thirty people crammed into one of their biggest small hibachi rooms. I miss this tradition. With our children adding their significant others, we decided to scale back to individual family gatherings. New traditions replace previous ones. But the memories linger.
We never wanted our children to forget the true meaning of Christmas. We read the Christmas Story of Jesus’ birth before bedtime and sang “Happy Birthday Jesus” on Christmas Morning. We opened the first gift of Christmas, Jesus, with my daughter’s baby doll, Pam, representing Him. (I stole that tradition from a friend at church.)
I realize my children will have new influences as they grow older and start their traditions. It is my wish that the sweet memories of our traditions will linger throughout the years. Merry Christmas. Just saying.
Please leave some of your traditions in the comment section below. Inquiring minds may want to steal some of your ideas.
This is a wonderful story Deanna and I LOVE all of your traditions, old and new.
Kelly,thank you for chiming in to the discussion. I may have to start some travel traditions like you guys. This will certainly be an exciting Christmas with your new grandson. Merry Christmas!
Thank you for sharing such beautiful memories, Deanna!
I’m starting a new tradition this year. I have a collection of snowmen I started about three decades ago. The population of my Snowman Village exceeds 150 now and fills my fireplace mantel and the bookshelves on either side. They appear right after Thanksgiving and stay up until March. I’ve decided that each year, my family and friends will choose one of their favorites and share a story about who that snowman is, how they got to the village and what they do there. The sillier the better.
Wishing y’all a happy holiday season and bright new year!
Tricia, I love that idea! I use to give my students figurines to spark their creative writing skills. I can’t wait to view your wonderful villiage soon. Merry Christmas!
It’ll be up through February, so please stop by!
Tricia, I always love stopping by to see your collection. I especially like to hear the stories of how the pieces were acquired.
I love this Deanna! After we attend Christmas Eve Mass, we come home and gather around our lit Christmas tree and Joe turns on our Angel on top of the tree. We never turn it on until then and it remains lit through January 6th (3 Kings Day). Merry Christmas friend!
Vicki, Thank you for sharing that special tradition. I may have to postpone the lighting of my angel. I like how y’all enjoy your tree and decorations until Three Kings Day. Merry Christmas!
Love this, thank you! Christmas Eve remains the big night with my kids. Caroline reads Night before Christmas, they sprinkle reindeer food (oatmeal sprinkles and glitter) in front yard, and exchange one gift with each other. Santa leaves one small gift in their room to stall them before they come downstairs in the morning so I can have coffee before the mayhem. Merry Christmas!
Oh Michelle, I love your Christmas Eve tradtions.Oatmeal sprinkles and glitter, clever idea. Santa is a smart cookie leaving a gift to stall them. Merry Christmas!
What a lovely expression of your traditions, old and new. I loved reading your early memories and learning about your childhood days. It’s wonderful that your growing family will add new traditions and memories. I think this is the most enjoyable blog of your’s…just sayin’
Lynne, thank you for commenting.You are kind and tolereant of my rants. I know you love tradtions and have shared many with your grandkids. We definitely need to catch up soon and swap stories. Happy Hanukkah.
Thank you for sharing this Deanna and Merry Christmas!
Patty, It always makes me smile to see your name here. I wish you and your family a Merry Christmas! Thank you for joining the discussion.
This blog post is incredibly sweet. Thank you so much for all the time you took to prepare it for us to enjoy.
Steve and I took my daughter and her family and my son and his new wife to brunch, and then we came back to our house to decorate our Christmas tree. I baked cookies, and Steve made hot cocoa.
I decided I was not going to worry about what Christmas decorations Charlie, my grandson, would pick up and carry around the house, because the decorations are a favorite memory of my childhood.
Cindy, it’s always more fun to decorate with the family. It also hard to coordinate around everybody’s schedule. You will get videos of Charlie treasuring your ornaments. It will be an exciting Christmas for sure. Merry Christmas!
I loved reading your traditions and memories, Deanna. Thank you for a delightful, heartfelt post.
My favorite memory only lasted a few years, but I’d love to return to it with our children and grandchildren. My parents and siblings joined my husband, our firstborn, and me to provide Christmas for the family of a prisoner. We ate a quick chili and salad supper and sat on the living room floor to wrap the gifts everyone had purchased. The next day my brother and I had the honor of delivering the gifts. The memory still makes me smile because our hearts probably warmed more than the recipients.
Jeannie, what a wonderful gift of time and love you all got to experience. If I know you, you’ll be doing this or something even more spectacular for others.Prison ministry is often neglected. Thank you for sharing. Merry Christmas!
So many fun tradition memories! I especially like the hayride for caroling memory. We did caroling a few years in my neighborhood growing up. And I loved being a part of the hibachi crew for a couple of years! When I was a kid, I really loved staying in our pajamas all morning. Connor and I would be up before 7am, and from what I remember we would do stockings before breakfast – which usually meant we could eat lots of chocolate to start our day! Another favorite tradition is driving around looking at a Christmas lights and listening to Christmas music. Sometimes we would go as far as into the city to see the bigger fancier houses all lit up. Some houses would have a Christmas movie projected on the garage and an FM station to tune into for the audio. I’m looking forward to taking Haley and Elijah around to see lights this year!
Allyson,thank you for sharing your Christmas memories. I love the pajama idea. When Erica and Caleb were little they had Christmas pjs they opened on Christmas Eve. Schedules change and it seems difficult to coordinate matching pjs. I’m going to a PJ Christmas party. I may have to get creative. LOL. I know that Haley and Elijah will enjoy the traditions you choose to observe. Merry Christmas! This is going to be a Christmas to remember for our family.
I LOVE all your traditions! We love to read the Christmas story together on Christmas Eve, and my youngest (now married and 25), likes to “act” it out with one of my many nativity scenes that I have, usually a plastic, child-friendly one!
Julie, thank you for sharing your Christmas traditions. I would love to be an angel on the wall listening to the various versions of the nativity scene. Merry Christmas!
Loved reading your family traditions. Growing up in South Africa, Christmas was in the summertime, so traditions were a little different. Church was always on Christmas morning and then we would celebrate with all our extended family at one of our aunts homes. Lunch would be outdoors on long tables around the pool and we would most certainly be in our bathing suits for lunch. Marc and I have created our own family traditions – after Christmas Eve church, we come home and enjoy hearty soup, assorted cheeses, and meats, and home baked breads. Then the kids open their first Christmas present, which is always pajamas, and we watch a Christmas movie together. Christmas crackers are always on our Christmas day table, and we were the silly hats that pop out of the crackers! My granny’s famous trifle recipe is made by me and the many cousins back in South Africa without fail every year! We call it Ouma’s trifle in her honor!
Leanne, thank you for sharing your Christmas traditions. It was hot in South Georgia some Christmas Days but not hot enough to wear bathing suits! I love that you still make your Granny’s trifle. I make my grandmother’s chewey bread. Now you have some new littles to pass down these traditions.Merry Christmas!
Thank you for sharing such special memories and traditions! When first married, my mother in law gave us Cothique Santas every year for Christmas. When my children became older, she started giving them their own for Christmas. Each Santa represented something that was important to us in our lives at the time. When my children married, I divided my collection amongst the two of them, and now continue the tradition of giving Santas to them Christmas each year. We have also done the same thing with Christmas ornaments with our kids and grandchildren from the time they were born. I love walking into their houses during the holidays and seeing a collection of memories that started 40 years ago and continues today.
Genise, thanks for sharing your traditions. What a neat collection of Clothique Santas. I may need to see a picture of these. My children have not taken any of mine, yet. I’m scared they’ll show up on FB Market Place! Just saying…
Traditions a beautiful blend of our life experiences! Midnight mass is still my favorite tradition ~ a calm holiness that is hard to put into words. I also love our tradition of exchanging a special ornament each year which has now been decades! Merry Christmas
Missy, I’m not sure how I misssed your response. I agree that traditions are a special part of life and experiences. My tree is full of special reminders of our friendship. Thank you.