For our family, this day is partly about opening gifts and eating. If the roads don’t ice up for our get togethers, it just feels happy and sleepy and good.
Sending greetings to all who celebrate Christmas, to all who are celebrating the beginning of Chanukah tonight, and to all who celebrate other traditions.
In fact, I’d love to hear of any childhood memory you may have of a tradition in your family. Not necessarily for this time of year. Families sometimes develop traditions that no one else shares. I’m thinking of little things like singing a certain song every year when you catch the first glimpse of your favorite beach. Or special gestures after two people say the same thing simultaneously.
I’d also be interested in cultural traditions from a place you spent time as a child.
Thank you for your presence on WordPress. It’s fun to have friends in other places.
Suzanne's Mom's Blog 
Merry Christmas a little late! This is not so much a tradition as it is a childhood memory that we still recall. When we were kids, my brother decided that he wanted proof that Santa had visited on Christmas Eve so he set up a tape recorder on the fireplace hearth, beside the milk and cookies we left out for him. My father was given instructions to turn it on when he went to bed. In the morning we played the tape, first thing and we heard shuffling and other noises Santa made as got himself out from the chimney and put the presents under the tree. 😄🎄
Oh, thank you, Julie! That is so wonderful!
My father insisted on stringing popcorn and cranberries every year for garlands on our live tree. We always had a huge tree too in the 10-ft high living room that my dad designed. He would pop huge bowls of popcorn days in advance to allow the corn to get stale, thereby reducing splintering when you stuck the needle in. The hardest to penetrate were the cranberries. I think I sometimes wore a thimble but we had so much to do that inevitably some efforts were made without protection and I remember many painful stabs into my thumb. By the time I was in high school, I was into the custom and happily competed to string the greatest number of garlands. Decades later, however, I felt no compunction to carry on the tradition with my own kids.
A perfect example of a family tradition. I’m surprised the kids didn’t rebel. There must have been something delightful about the enthusiasm in the air.
Hannah sent some nice family traditions from different times of year. She writes, “First, Christmas. I was allowed to open one present on Christmas Eve. I don’t know if there was a midnight service at Christ Church, but if so I’m sure my mother went to sing in the choir. In the morning, I had to go to church before any present unwrapping began. It was weird and needless to say I didn’t like it. I think Mom went with me, so maybe there wasn’t a late night service.
“Another tradition: in the spring Mom always read me the Secret Garden. I occasionally did it myself once I had more of a life and reading time disappeared. Still go for it once in awhile, and have given the book to many children and their moms in hopes of someone picking it up. I was also pleased when I saw the movie and it was exactly as I had pictured it. That happened with Lord of the Flies also. Always gratifying!
“Being given surprise birthday parties, and once a Halloween party, was a bit of a tradition. Mom love to surprise me!! I expect you were at a few of them.”
Hannah’s comment reminded me that we also opened one present Christmas Eve: pajamas.