Christmas Traditions 12/25/21

There are traditions associated with family celebrations of Christmas. A week or so before Christmas, Sue’s father, his son, and three daughters (including Sue) would walk up a hill and into a wooded area on the family farm, pick out a Christmas Tree, cut it down, and drag it home to be set up in the living room. It did not matter if the tree was as wide as it was tall (and many times it was); it was their home-grown Christmas tree.

One of the traditions in my family played out when we were at the Christmas dinner table. The meal of roasted turkey "with all the fix-ins" was not a complete success until my Uncle Charles (my mother’s brother) announced that the Christmas turkey was “done to a turn,” referencing days gone by when the turkey was cooked on a spit over an open fire and removed at the exact rotation when it was perfectly cooked.

One of our family traditions has to do with five decorations that must be on the tree. The top of the tree must include three ornaments that our children loved to place there when they were babies as Sue or I held them up: an elf, Frosty the Snowman, and Santa. And at mid-tree, ornaments they each made in preschool need to be hung – a strip of red felt shaped like an ice cycle with glitter on it and a sled made of popsicle sticks.

Hope you enjoy Christmas traditions or make a Christmas tradition this year - Merry Christmas.