Holiday Traditions

[colls]

Hello COFFEEHOUSE! Long time, no chat. How've you been?


Like many Americans, I just spent some time with family this past week. I don't often see many of them and it was one of those stereotypical 'do you remember when...' gab sessions. We sat around telling familiar stories to each other. It made me think of various holiday traditions we've incorporated over the years as our family has expanded and how we always seem to make room for the old even when we have the new.

What sort of traditions do you have over the holiday season?
Is there a special dish that only a select few make? Is there a story a certain loved one always tells? Is there a gag gift that gets passed around? Is there an activity or place of interest you always try to visit? What are you looking forward to? What are you wishing you could avoid?

Any autumn/winter holiday - Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Diwali, Solstice, Christmas, Kwanzaa, New Years, Boxing Day, Valentine's Day, etc. - whichever you'd like to talk about.

Comments

[colls]

FOOD (because so much of holidays for me is about food):
My aunt always makes oyster stuffing for Thanksgiving. We only have this when we're in New England (thankfully - because it's rather revolting) otherwise we typically make corn bread stuffing with apples and walnuts.

My dad makes watermelon pickles, which were absent this year as he was in a different state. I missed them this past week and look forward to having them for Christmas dinner next month.

My grandma makes apple pie and now she has 3 generations of people asking her for it. My cousin's kid is actually rather cute and extremely polite about it - whereas my cousin and I used to be loud and demanding at his age. Manners! he must've gotten them from his mother

Being THANKFUL and giving things:
We don't do the go-around-the-table-and-be-thankful, although I think my cousin's wife usually does. We open presents one at a time though, which apparently takes forever now that there are grandkids with piles of gifts. (I'm not usually there for Christmas, so I only hear about it).

My first house a couple years out of college, the people who lived there before me left this plastic plant in the basement family room. When my BFF moved in, I left it in her bedroom as a gift. Several weeks later she'd leave it in my bathtub. A couple months would go by and it's mysteriously show up in her shower. On it went for about 7-8 years.
Anyway, I wrapped up a bulky box (about the size of a small suitcase - only not that heavy). I left it in her spare room closet and told her it was a Christmas gift that I didn't want to ship. It's not the same plastic plant - that thing was thrown away years ago - but it's almost as hideous. I CAN'T WAIT UNTIL I GET THE TEXT FROM HER ON CHRISTMAS MORNING. haha.

[aryas_zehral]

Every now and then someone suggests doing the one at a time thing for presents but, tbh, we're barely patient enough to wait and sort out the presents for people. :) It seems very... civilised/organised to take turns. :)

[colls]

It must be where my cousin's kid learned manners.... or patience... or something.
RIP THEM OPEN, I say. ;)

[aryas_zehral]

Absolutely. There should be random bits of paper behind the sofa and down the side of the cushions and scattered about even after we've tried to tidy up or it hasn't been done properly!!

[timetobegin]

oh man it SOUNDS not great lol. bread stuffing for the win. (we don't have a stuffed bird because ham, but we make stuffing balls instead nomnomnomfuckingnom)

apple pieeeee

ahahah yeah that would take forever!!!
ahahaha yes good :D

[colls]

Oyster stuffing is awful - unless you like oysters.

HAM! yum. We've done ham before, very yummy.

[timetobegin]

i do not lol.

yessss so good :D

[skieswideopen]

Oyster stuffing sounds awful, tbh. I'm happy we stick to bread! Apple pie, on the other hand, sounds like a delightful addition.

LOL @ the plastic plant! That's awesome.

[colls]

Oyster stuffing is disgusting, but something line 90% of my mom's side adores the stuff. WEIRDOS!!

[skieswideopen]

Well, that's how I feel about everyone who likes seafood. ;)

[colls]

Me too

[aryas_zehral]

We don't really have any traditions. We used to, in that we had a set way of doing things, back before my parents broke up and people went and did things like get married and move and have babies. Christmas Day was spent just Mum, Dad, Me, Katie, Andrew and maybe grandparents. There were stockings first thing. We had to get dressed and have breakfast (up the table, like civilised people, lol) before the main presents. One present was kept back on the Tree (aka tree presents) for Boxing Day. We would play canasta at some point during the day.

Nowadays we have a family meal with our Dad a couple of weeks before Christmas and then one or other of us might go stay a few days with him if he's not on holiday. This used to be me but the last three years I've worked every Christmas Eve and its just not possible to get over to him by public transport after work. Whoever wants can come to Mum's for Christmas Day which means that most of us appear at some point. Lunch is at Mum's although Andrew sometimes has a second Christmas dinner at his in-laws (they only live twenty minutes away). There are guests: Mum has a couple of her friends from work who come sometimes because they don't have family to go to and my step-Dad's kids sometimes come too. This causes... issues for space. Last year the dinner table had a computer table at one end and we still had troubles. This year they have bought an extendible table. (Between Mum and Ian they have 8 kids, most of whom have partners and half of whom have kids. I imagine that we will eventually end up with a kids table. Mum says, once she gets her conservatory built, she will use it to extend into for big family meals). Lunch needs to either be finished or to be paused for Doctor Who. There will still be card games.

Food is... traditional. Turkey. Mash. Roast Potatoes. Yucky Sprouts. Carrots. Parsnips. Great-grandma's onion gravy. Stuffing. Pigs in Blankets. Soup or salmon for a starter. Chocolate log or yucky Christmas pudding for dessert. There are some variations. One year my sister and I made sushi for starters. This year I intend on trying a recipe for brussel sprouts which apparently makes them less disgusting.

New Years.... has less of a routine. Usually at Mum's (but not this year). The last few years we've spent the time playing games (Mario Kart FTW) and waiting for the bells on the TV (and drinking). Mum is away this year. I am working. I have no plans. I can't decide if I'm upset about this or not. I might end up at my sisters.

[colls]

Stockings! We had stockings when I was a kid, I miss those. I always got candy, soap, and lip gloss in them.

Your family sounds like a typical blended family these days. I wonder if that's because we've grown up or if it's like that for most people nowadays. I applaud my stepbrother for trying to ground his family with new traditions, even if there are some family members who've gotten their nose out of joint for this (not on my side, mind you). His kids will hopefully have the same sort of memories of "we used to do this when I was a kid" instead of being shuffled around.

This year I intend on trying a recipe for brussel sprouts which apparently makes them less disgusting.
haha -- maybe you can ask noelle for suggestions, brussel sprouts are her favorite!



Sometimes a low-key New Year's is a good thing. :)

[aryas_zehral]

Our stockings always had an orange in the very bottom of them and pens and chocolate santas and sugar mice and, yep, lipgloss. Mylo and Becky (my nephew and niece) had stockings last year at their own houses. When the stockings were retired it was so that they could be resurrected for the next generation. :)

I'll take any help I can with them. They are gross but I'm not entirely convinced that its not the way Mum makes them. I was thinking either of just basically roasting them or making this recipe which has bacon and pine nuts in it.

[colls]

everything's better with bacon (or butter)

[timetobegin]

i love sprouts! :D

it sounds nice and low key.

[timetobegin]

I spend Christmas with my family and we tend to do similar things each year, depending on if its at my mum's or my sisters. (this year its at my sisters)

I LIKE HAM (my uncle always brings the ham) and there are usually a bunch of puddings we can't eat nomnomnom (tiramisu is pretty much a shoe in)

We do secret santa gifts for the adults and my niece of course gets gifts from all of us :D

I LOVE CHRISTMAS. basically if its sunny (its summer here) we have a hot meal and then lie about outside/inside and if its not sunny we watch a movie or sometimes watch the doctor who marathon (its not always on, but most of the time)

ON new years i usually marathon lord of the rings (if i start at about 5, all the movies take me til midnight) and eat fancy food by myself. sometimes my parents crash me plans though

[colls]

I think if our family got any bigger I'd vote for secret santa. As it is, I just stopped getting anything for my own generation and give to the kids instead.

A SUNNY CHRISTMAS!! Sounds like it'd be surreal. ;)

[timetobegin]

Yeah its not so much we have a ton of people, its just that we all don't really know what we want and its a case of exchanging gift cards lol.

:D its awesome.

[skieswideopen]

That sounds like an awesome way to spend New Years!

[timetobegin]

ahah yes :D maybe i'll change it to marvel this year!

[brisus]

For any holiday, I'm required to make my homemade mashed potatoes. Nothing super special about them... just homemade. HAHA.
I know I have some little traditions, but off the top of my head, I can't think of any that are really relevant or would mean anything to anyone here. Haha.

I would love to avoid any family drama period. Not that there is ever a real issue--I just don't ever want any of that on a holiday!

[colls]

But oh, potatoes can have nuances!
I like yellow potatoes (or baking potatoes) with cream cheese, sour cream & butter. Topped with a dash of nutmeg.

Homemade potatoes are awesome in any variety though. ALL HAIL THE STARCH!

[brisus]

True! I like using russett or idaho potatoes for my mashed potatoes.

I did just think of a tradition for me--after Thanksgiving either on Black Friday or that Saturday, I like to put up my CHristmas tree and decorate the house. :)

[colls]

That's a good time to do it!
It's like a secular advent season - decorations go up the day after Thanksgiving and come down January 1.

[brisus]

:) Yea, I usually will take my decorations down after new years. There has only been one time in my life where my mom left the tree up until around my birthday (jan 28th) ahha.

[loki_of_sassgaard]

For Thanksgiving and Christmas, we go to my grandmother's. There's usually turkey and lefse at both, and then whatever anyone else decides to make. Small sausages, ham, home-made mints, about eight sorts of potato. And lots of alcohol.

For the Fourth, we go out to my uncle's, on the Lewis River, where there is chicken, fish, whatever got hunted that summer, lots of fire works, and lots of alcohol.

Other than that, we don't do much in the way of holidays. My own personal tradition involves watching Love Actually about eight times between now and Christmas, but that's about it.

[ejia_arath03]

My sisters and I bake a cake! We usually try not to burn the kitchen down. So far, I've only ruined three toaster ovens by fire, which I think is a decent track record of not destroying the house.

Then there's the yearly screening of that timeless holiday film favorite, Die Hard. back to back with the Hogfather two-parter.

Oh, and lots of ham. OMNOMNOM.