Traditionally
Thursday, December 16, 2010 at 6:50PM A young bride would lovingly roast a turkey for her family during the holidays. After basting every twenty minutes for the better part of a day, it would then be carefully carved and arranged on a platter with fresh herbs.
Not I.
#1: I am not a young bride anymore. I think a decade of marriage disqualifies me.
#2: This is Minnesota in winter. What are fresh herbs again?
#3: I have a freakish attraction to crispy turkey skin. I have to hold myself back from picking all the crispy, buttery skin off the turkey before it makes it to the table.
#4: I'm terrible at carving meat. Probably because I'm too busy inhaling the skin.
Traditionally, a young bride would spend hours peeling, dicing, boiling, and mashing potatoes by hand.
Not I.
While there's no way around the peeling and boiling, I come to my own aid with a hand held mixer.
And then I must -- I must -- take a dollop (just one) with my finger, as if the mashed potatoes were cookie dough.
Then I smooth them back over with a spoon so no one will know.
Traditionally, children sat at a small table during a holiday meal and minded the manners their mother so carefully instilled in them.
Not I. The children's table here is covered with markers, pipe cleaner, ribbon, and socks to make sock puppets.
*NOTE*: Socks were not handknit.
You can resume normal breathing now.
Traditionally, children would be nestled all snug in their beds at the end of the day.
In my family, little ones fall asleep on their mama's shoulders.
Then they're carefully coccooned in their snowsuits and carried to the car that has been warming for ten minutes, courtesy of a remote starter.
I like my traditions, even though they ain't fancy.
Do you have any traditions that others might find strange, but that you love nonetheless?
Don't leave me hanging here. It would violate tradition. 
Reader Comments (14)
Crisp turkey skin is a must. My dad and/or my uncle Bob always carve our turkey, and it's a long running family joke that they have to say grace before they start in on the turkey.
One of our best traditions is that my mom makes up a scavenger hunt for each of us girls that takes all over the house, solving clues to find our presents. We are going to turn the tables on her tis year--we bought her a stand mixer for her new kitchen, and we are going to make her search for it.
My mom also makes Christmas crackers for our extended family. (Do you have these in the US? I have a notiion that it's a very British/Canadian thing to do.) She chooses small presents throughout the year and saves them so that everyone gets something personal in addition to the little hat and the snapper. We have to save our toilet paper rolls for months beforehand. One of my aunts always gets a sexy pair of underpants in hers.
We're making new traditions. It's what blended families do. But I will say that when I was single, I always sat at the kids table. Afterall, I was just a kid at heart, only I had an adult sized body. Frankly, now that I sit at the adult table, I realize I preferred sitting with the kids. That is where the best conversations and the most laughter are. (( sigh ))
We actually save the skin for my SIL. She loves it so much that it is a joy to give it to her. We did away with the kids table fro 2 reasons: because the kids couldn't be trusted alone (too much rowdiness), and it is so much fun to have them with us because they are so rowdy. The laughter increases tenfold with the family all together.
My Mom has always had a huge plastic bag full of little stuff from the 99 cent store, from which we take turns pulling something out. Then we play with the and trade them. Lots of fun. Last year, the bag contained a dozen bals wood planes, most of which ended up in the Christmas tree!!
In my family, which is your family, we have been known to start playing Christmas carols in October. We also have some combined favorites: Spicy Molasses Cookies - the best recipe in MN, if not the world, Dairy Bars, which no one has ever heard of but when they bite into one they roll their eyes and moan, and for you and yours, a very particular sugar cookie recipe. Right? At times we have put cloves in oranges and set them around the house (even on the back of the toilet in one house), we have always enjoyed watching Christmas movies (another obscure one we still love: the 1970 musical "Scrooge" starring Albert Finney), and playing games. I think now that we are overrun with little ones, we should add some new traditions. I hope we can find some ideas here from your faithful readers....I'll be back all throughout the day to check!
Growing up, my mom would spend a day or so a few weeks before Christmas baking sugar cookies- she would roll out the dough, cut it into shapes, and I would deccorate all the trees and assorted critters with sugar and those little ball thingies. Then they would sit in the cold garage ontop of the cars until it was time to bake the cookies. Even after moving out, I go over to help deccorate the cookies.
Now that I'm married, my husband and I tend to spend the holidays running from house to house- Christmas eve with his mom, Christmas morning with his dad, and Christmas dinner at my parents'. It's hectic, but I love seeing everyone. This year my dad is cooking Christmas dinner because my mom just had back surgery! I'm going to be helping him out, but he's actually a good cook so he'd be fine on his own :)
I lost my entire family (dad,mom,brother, SIL, niece and two nephews) on 10.26.10. So traditions for DH and I will probably be a little low key this year until we decide upon new ones. However, in the past, All the youth and any adults that want to tag along run out to see a Christmas movie after a 2:00pm dinner. Movie had to have opened on Christmas day to qualify. DH makes all the pies. He's the best baker in the world. I believe this to be the case because he is a biochemist and as baking takes exact measures, he's great at that. I on the other hand handle all the savories, a pinch a dash, it all works. After 29 years of marriage, I'm not a young bride either, although DH makes me feel that way sometimes. Anyway, I buy the ham, but make the turkey, sweet potatoes are savory - no marshmallows allowed and in honor of my best friend's mother (she taught me to cook as a child) I always make homemade ravioli. All guests are encouraged to bring a dish that is special to them or their homeland. All in all it's about the people, the sharing and the love. Merry Christmas - Peace and joy to you all....
I am no longer very young. And after more than a decade of marriage, I feel funny calling myself a bride. Our traditions vary depending on whether it's an even year or an odd year. Some traditions had to change over a decade ago, when I was actually a young bride ;) I guess the "not braving the madness that is traveling halfway across the country to then drive 800 miles in five days (every other year)" thing is a tradition unto itself, hey? When we're not making the trek and plan a more quiet holiday at home, we set up our tree on my daughter's birthday (Nov 30). Or as close to it as is reasonably possible.
Diana, I am so sorry for your loss. (((((((((Diana)))))))))
the last picture made me all teary-eyed. i'm such a sap!
i like your traditions. we are a small, military family, living far far away from any family. we're still working on figuring out what our traditions are, a little bit of his family's, a little bit of mine, with a healthy does of our own. this is the first year my daughter's been old enough to really appreciate christmas, and i am having so much fun discovering the magic and joy with her.
I'm sorry to pop in here again so soon, but I had to add my hugs and prayers to Diana. I am so sorry, Diana! Please know I am thinking of you and do not take lightly what you have shared here. God bless you.
me too (((Diana)))
Oh Diana...I'm so sorry...may you be surrounded with the comfort and love of friends and husband and whoever else can wrap their arms around you.
diana dear, we dont know why God allpws this to happen, but PLEASE KNOW THAT JESUS LOVES YOU His arms will wrap around you to comfort you. i pray that He will soon bind up your broken heart as only He can. press into Him and cling to Him,He will carry you through, He promised He would and you can trust Him. God Loves You dearest
We have the tradition of the Christmas story from GP (which is what the grandkids call my dad--GP for GrandPa). It originates from a Christmas when my parents were short on money and weren't able to get us many gifts, so my Dad wrote a story about how Santa had had problems getting all the presents ready and had to give the kids coupons instead. We were old enough that we understood the reason behind it, but it was our absolute favorite Christmas growing up.
Since my son's first Christmas, my dad's written a story for the grandkids every year. This year, Santa lost 3 special keys that ran his gift wrapping machine--they'd fallen into presents that were being wrapped. Well, Jeffrey, his sister, and his oldest cousin just happened to get the gifts that had the keys in them, so they had to call "Santa" (my brother, who loves to do voices) and tell him they had the keys. "Santa" told them to leave the keys on the front step and he'd pick them up, which he did later (someone snuck out the back to get the keys), and then on Christmas Day they had a note from Santa thanking them for saving Christmas; without the keys they would have never gotten all the gifts wrapped in time. Jeffrey's just at the right age to really start believing, and he'll tell anyone who'll listen that he helped save Christmas.