I love the holiday season, from the wintry weather, seeing houses illuminated with Christmas lights, watching holiday movies and specials, eating Christmas cookies, sending out Christmas cards and giving gifts. People seem a bit more kind and amidst all the bustling, one can still find peace. We all have our Christmas traditions, some changed by loss, some by this pandemic, but we still have them. On this Christmas Eve I thought I would share some holidays thoughts and traditions from some great cozy authors.
Tradition!
I find it fascinating to hear about everyone’s holiday traditions. Here’s what our authors said.
I suppose the only tried and true holiday tradition I have is to put out some ornaments that have been around for a long time, almost forty years. Every year, it signals that Christmas is here just to take them out, smell the scented wax Avon figurine of a courting couple kissing under the mistletoe, and examine the hand beaded ornaments made so long ago. It is then Christmas.
Kathleen Kalb
We celebrate Hanukkah, and it’s usually a very quiet family thing. We light candles and eat dinner together, and the gifts are mostly small, except for a big one on the last night. But we have a lot of fun with those small gifts – plenty of inside jokes and little traditions. My husband’s grandmother always bought him underwear (we’re not sure why) so now I give him and our son a package of t-shirts or briefs one night, so we can enjoy the echo…and a good laugh!
Tina Kashian
We get up early on Christmas morning and open presents with our two teen girls. Then we travel to the Poconos to visit my in-laws and for the girls to spend treasured time with their grandparents.
Meg Macy
A favorite holiday tradition -- making my mom's Spritz cookies in tree shapes, going out to see Christmas lights.
Ellen Byron/Maria DiRico
A favorite holiday tradition – I just observed it! I have a small crew of neighborhood mom friends I power-walk with. We got to know each other when our kids were in elementary school together. (Now they’re all in college) One night in the weeks prior to Christmas, four of us get together and drive around the local neighborhoods to see the outdoor decorations at people’s homes. We add new locations to our list every year. We finish with drinks and snacks at a local restaurant and toast the holidays and our friendships.
Daryl Wood Gerber
Making my grandmother's sugar cookies.
Ginger Bolton
Stockings!
On Christmas Eve we put oranges in the toe, and then everyone contributes to filling the stockings. On Christmas morning, we open our stockings at the breakfast table. Chocolates often up being part of breakfast. . . .
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Gifts!
I asked our authors what was the best present they ever received…and the best present they ever gave.
As a child? A Kiddle ring. Don’t know what a Kiddle ring is? (It WAS a long time ago!) It was a ring with a jewel shaped dome that enclosed a tiny doll you could take out and play with. I was just about ten – maybe too old for dolls? – but I loved that little Kiddle ring!
Tina
This one is easy for me to answer. My oldest daughter was born in December. My father pre-paid for a cleaning service for six months. As a new mother dealing with a five-pound preemie, it was a wonderful!
Best Christmas present: Our dog, Nigel! We adopted him on December 23rd and, because he couldn't be alone more than an hour or two, had to bring him to my mother-in-law's for a family dinner on Christmas Eve! She had a strict "no dogs" rule, but since she essentially had to choose between us and a dog, or none of us, she allowed Nigel to come, as long as he stayed in his crate. He was so scared he didn't make a sound. We thought we had a quiet dog...but within a couple of weeks realized that wasn't the case. Nigel definitely found his bark! And now my mother-in-law actually refers to him as her "grand-dog"! :)
Best Christmas gift ever received -- a weekend on Mackinac Island with my husband and daughter, from my daughter!
Best Christmas gift ever given -- my daughter, who was born the day after!
Terrie Moran
What is the ABSOLUTE BEST Christmas gift I ever received or gave? That's easy! Both answers are the same---an eyelash curler. When I was 16, one magically appeared in my Christmas stocking. I went to an all girl Catholic school and make-up was absolutely forbidden BUT, being a bit of a rebel, I got great satisfaction curling my eyelashes each morning before school. I felt pretty, it did not involve makeup, and the Dean of Discipline was none the wiser. Fast forward dozens of years and my fifteen year old granddaughter had a request for mascara on her Christmas list. Being the perfect Grandma, I bundled mascara, makeup remover, and ~Ta Da~ an eyelash curler, along with the caveat: "ALWAYS CURL BEFORE PUTTING ON MASCARA. Otherwise you will rip your eyelashes right out of your eyes. That's why makeup remover is so important." After she opened her package, the granddaughter, in Covid quarantine, texted back: "UR QUEEN!" My fondest hope is that many years from now she will buy an eyelash curler for a teenage girl and think of me when she does so.
Ellen
Best Christmas gift ever received – Last year, my daughter really went out of her way to find something right on point for me. She knows I love to needlepoint, so she bought me a canvas of the St. Charles streetcar. I absolutely loved it and stitched up last year. It now sits on our hall table.
Best Christmas gift ever given – College! (Kidding. Kind of.)
Nancy Cole Silverman
Best Christmas gift ever received...the Christmas my aunt accidentally addressed all the Christmas packages to me! I had so much to open.
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I hope you enjoyed this holiday edition. Stay tuned as these ladies will share favorite holiday recipes on Boxing Day! In the meantime, I’d love it if you shared your holiday traditions as well as memories of presents past in the comments below!
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