Holiday Traditions

It’s that time of year again…I’m always late getting in the holiday spirit, but late is ok… When the urge finally hits, I will get it all done! 

We follow a lot of traditions… As a kid I always went to the grandparents house, one for Christmas Eve, and one for Christmas day. Christmas eve was always very special, though very simple. We had an oyster soup supper, usually a few fresh veggies, a big bowl of crackers, a plate of cheese, a jello salad, and dessert was saved until after the gifts were opened. Without fail after we were all seated at the long dining room table enjoying our soup, my Granddad and Uncle would suddenly remember they hadn’t fed or watered some of the livestock… They would excuse themselves to go do the chores. It was sad because they always missed the most exciting time of the evening…. The rest of us tackle the food before us, and soon after starting, we would hear this strange noise on the roof, and someone would always say in a very startled manner…”Oh listen! What is that noise”? It was very scary, but we would then all jump up and run to the doors and windows to look outside…seeing nothing, we would go back to the table and finish our soup. By then the chores were done and my Granddad and Uncle would return and as they re-entered the house would exclaim that there was a huge sack sitting on the back porch, we kids were told to go out and drag it in…When discovered it was a gunny sack full of presents, they were spread under the tree and of course it we realized then it was Santa we had heard making all that noise on the roof earlier! I always just felt so bad that my Granddad & Uncle had to work and didn’t hear it…. They always swore they didn’t hear or see a thing because they were out in the barn…. Both of them now passed, I think often of what a wonderful time we had when times were so simple.

The tradition of the oyster soup on Christmas eve has continued throughout my life and I still fix it every year, I usually serve a ham with it and some other goodies, but it remains the main, central traditional focus of our meal….

Christmas this year seems so strange to me…I really do not remember last Christmas , of 2007, and got thru it only because I was simply led around…. I had just went thru the surgery in November with the diagnosis of the cancer, and last year’s holidays are simply a blur… I was amazed the other day when I went to the garage to bring in all the decorations…last year I had wrapped everything in newspaper when putting it away, and used duct tape to secure it…. like I wasn’t planning on ever using it again? So, this year, I’ve had to spend a lot of time unpacking everything with the knowledge that there will probably be many more Christmas’s to enjoy…

For many years, we could not even think about shopping for the kids until hubby got his Christmas bonus at work, which was usually only a few days before Christmas….That found us trying to do all of it one evening. There were many Christmas eve’s when it meant getting out on the roads in a blizzard to find our way to town…hurrying to finish before the stores closed, staying up most all night to get them wrapped and ready for our celebration the next evening. The first year we had moved from our little old home town, we had heard of this wonderful new mall in the big city about 2 hours from us…. This would have been in 1966. Never having been in a mall before we had no idea what one was but everyone said we should go there to do our shopping. Upon arrival, we drove into this huge parking lot that was filled with cars, but we didn’t see any people! Finally we found our way into a store, looked around for awhile, didn’t see what we wanted, went back outside and trudged on to the next one…….. then eventually worked our way to the front of it...then we seen the mall!   There were all the people that belonged to all those cars outside! We were amazed... talk about a couple of hicks, we had no clue until we seen it, that a mall was what it was…..You mean we could shop inside in all of those stores and not have to go outside? We’ve had many laughs over our first visit to a mall in the years since then.

Other traditions include our candy making… The first few years we were married, we didn’t have much money, so we made batches of divinity for sale…. I hung a notice down at the post office and here came the orders…. Making it the old fashioned way, it does take two people, so hubby and I would stay up late at night making it, hand beating it, and boxing it up for delivery the next day… Though we no longer sell it, we still have to make some every year.

My Mother used to make “aunt bills” candy (I have no idea how it got that name, because I don't have an "Aunt Bill",  but in WWII she would make it and send it to the troops in our family….brother & brothers in law & cousins.  I still have a letter one of my uncles wrote from a fox hole somewhere in France. He said the box of candy he had gotten at mail call the day before had been the most wonderful surprise and he had shared it with a few of his buddy's because they would be moving on the next day and he wouldn't be able to take it with him. He wrote about being cold, wet, sick, tired and hungry, as rations were running low. He said when he opened the box of candy it was like God really had heard his prayers. He talked about that being his favorite Christmas present of all time until the day he died.

I had not tried making “aunt bill’s” candy by myself, until after my Mom had died, so the first Christmas afterwards, I called my sis and told her if she and I didn’t make it, it would be our first Christmas ever without it. I bought all the ingredients, she came over and we followed the old recipe as best we could. You have to caramelize sugar and pour it into boiling milk.   As we did that, it all globbed up into this big mess and we were sure we had ruined the whole thing, so we just stopped and dumped that batch….. Tried again, and that time we poured a smaller stream of the sugar, turned the boil down to a simmer, and lo and behold, with constant stirring and a lot cussing, praying, giggles, and tears, it finally dissolved and we eventually turned out a perfect batch of wonderful creamy caramel, nutty candy….. Since then, I try to do at least one batch a year and always think of my Mom and my Uncle when I’m doing it.

The first year we started our business, we wanted to do something special for our customers, but could not afford the fancy coats & hats that our competition always gave out…..so I came up with the bright idea of making each of our really good customers a box of candy….. For two weeks prior to Christmas, I made batches of candy every day and filled a box for each customer with rows of divinity, peanut brittle, aunt bill’s, and fudge. It was given with love, accepted with love, and commented on for many years after that. My hands will no longer allow me to do that much beating, so the days of making very much candy are over, but we still have to get thru at least one batch of each of our favorites with loving memories…..

This year I am once again with the world, and one of these days soon the Christmas spirit will hit me……I’ll get excited, go shopping, wrap the presents, plan the meals, cook, put up the tree, put out the decorations, get out the Christmas music, make candy, and so much more,  and love every minute of the rushing around……. Until then, I’m just wondering why everyone else is in such a hurry! It’s only the 10th! 

One thing for sure, Christmas just would not be Christmas without the traditions I hold dear in my heart…..