Christmas Traditions and Memories

My youngest grandson’s teacher asked grandparents to write a letter to her class and describe our family’s Christmas traditions when we were young. I shared much of this post in my letter. If I could relive one day from childhood, I’d choose this memory of our family together on Christmas Day.

Mom and Dad loaded my two older brothers, younger sister, and me into their Ford station wagon after we opened our gifts at home. We traveled across town to my grandparents’ house. There were eight adults and nine children together in a crowded living room. We ate a big dinner of ham, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn, fruit salad, and my grandmother’s pumpkin pie and crumb cake. My grandmother was a good cook. She made mincemeat pies with apples, meat, and raisins, but I stuck up my nose at those.

When I was five, I wanted to be near my great-grandmother and hold her hand. She always sat in her favorite chair in the kitchen where she could watch everyone there and everyone in the living room too. In her hand she always held an embroidered hankie edged with lace. When she died, my grandmother gave me one of great-grandma’s hankies to remember her.

My cousin and I sat together in this big old chair every year. I don’t remember who got the honor of sitting in that chair once we grew too big and no longer fit in it together.

I looked forward to something my grandfather did for us. He emptied walnut shells, put coins inside, and glued the shells back together. He then hung them on a small tree. They looked like little ornaments. How he cracked them open without destroying them I’ll never know. After we ate our dinner on Christmas Day, he gave us permission to pick a walnut from the tree to find out what it held. We received pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters. Thought we were rich!

Grandpa then handed out each gift, one at a time, and we opened it before he handed out the next gift. He wanted to make sure everyone saw what we received and heard us tell the gift-giver, “Thank you.”

So much fun! I enjoyed being together with my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins to celebrate Christmas as a family. 

Merry Christmas, everyone! I hope you and your families share special memories for years to come.

Then the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

Luke 2: 10-11, NKJV

What are your favorite childhood memories of Christmas?

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Photo by Ben White - Unsplash

Childhood Memories

Nettle Lake in northwest Ohio holds many favorite memories from my childhood. Friends owned a cottage and invited our family every summer to join them.

My cousin and I discovered the reason for its name early in life. One summer, we put our exploratory skills to use and spied a field of tall weeds. A maze of fun awaited us. Within moments, we bolted out and screamed our way back to the cabin. We found ourselves in the grasp of stinging nettles—plants with sharp hairs on their leaves that inject the skin and make it itchy.

In the early years, we had no running water in the cottage. We carried a flashlight to the outhouse at night. That was frightening enough without my two older brothers’ pranks. After a few years, our friends added water and an inside toilet.

Within a year or two, while I was using the commode, the toilet’s faucet exploded. Water came shooting out. Scared me to pieces. I did what any twelve-year-old girl would do. Screamed and sprinted out of the bathroom. I hope I remembered to pull up my pants. A repressed memory. To this day, I’m not fond of toilets. Although, they come in handy. Porta potties are worse.

Something I loved to do was climb into the rowboat and row to a small channel. Most often, three of us took turns rowing. On our expeditions, we carried along a fish net to catch turtles. We rowed through water lilies and observed in awe the blue herons soaring overhead. Now and then, a motorboat passed by and disturbed our tranquility. In the channel, croaking frogs entertained us. While one person rowed another held the net. Ready and waiting. We searched for turtle heads popping out of the water. We usually collected slimy seaweed when we scooped the turtles into our net. Often, we returned to the cottage with ten or more crawling along the bottom of the aluminum boat. Their tiny claws squeaking across the metal and scratching our bare feet.

On one trip to the canal we caught a snapping turtle. We were young but knew not to let him into our boat. We liked our toes. 

The turtles joined us at the top of the sloped back yard. Here, we raced them. We meandered alongside our favorites and cheered them on as they ventured down the hill and escaped into the lake. We repeated the full adventure the next day.

My favorite memory on a rainy day took place at the kitchen table. Our families played card games and ate chocolate cake covered with chocolate icing and walnuts on top. Yum!

Spending quality time with family and friends creates fond memories, forms strong bonds, and brings us joy. Nettle Lake will always hold a special place in my heart.

What memory from childhood is significant to you?