Holiday Traditions: I Survived!



It's a wonder I survived my childhood, on so many levels. There was the time I ice skated across the ancient wood floors and carved them up and we had to buy huge oriental rugs to cover up where I had made marks all over wooden floors that were stained with the blood of Civil War soldiers. There was the time I picked up the snapping turtle at the creek and brought him home to show him off. There was the time I ate back pain pills thinking they were blue M&Ms. Oh wait, there was also the time I wandered off in a junkyard and took a nap inside a car while the police looked for me for 12 hours... Well, you get the picture, there's too many to mention. The one, however, that amazes me the most is that I survived our Norwegian Christmases.

Why would a Norwegian Christmas be particularly deadly? Well, it is when you have the five kids go out into the woods with an axe, cut down a tree, drag it home on December first and decorate it with straw and paper ornaments and little candle holders with live candles!

My father was from Norway and mother was Scottish. Much bickering ensued when it appeared mother's children were very proud to be Thorvaldsens and of Viking ancestry and rather bored by the Scots. So, mother introduced us to shortbread, tea time and the Highlanders. Wicked! Suddenly, we were born from two ultra-warrior factions and damn proud of it.

A Norwegian Christmas as we practiced it wasn't particularly exotic, other than the paper woven ornaments and straw ornaments and the live candles. We did smorgasbord on Christmas Eve and invited everyone to a huge buffet of Scandinavian foods. It was the one time a year we gave thanks dad's family came to America. Nearly everything is dehydrated and pickled to survive the long winters. We were a competetive family and tried to out-gross each other. Lutefisk (fish treated in lye) was downed with lots of vinegar to mask the taste. Sardines and pickled herring were tossed on flatbreads and washed down with hot cider. There was hasty pudding with an almond in one of the servings and the person won a marzipan pig. Mind you, it's a pasty sugary creation that is devoid of flavor, but somehow winning that damn thing mad a person act like it was the lottery.

Christmas eve we opened the gifts. The problem with that is that then you have to go to bed knowing there's a new bike or something awesome waiting for you. The five of us kids didn't trust each other not to sneak and see what Santa brought unwrapped under the tree for the morning, so we all piled into one bedroom and locked ourselves in for the night and drove each other nuts with zero sleep.

Christmas morning was a yule pile. No, seriously, a yule pile. It was our breakfast stacked up. Dad made waffles, stacked up an egg, a piece of fruit, a piece of cheese...

I look back at that tree and how it looked on Christmas morning with more needles on the floor than on the tree, straw ornaments, paper ornaments and clips with mounds of wax puddled in them and I wonder if perhaps the ghosts in our home kept us safe on this most dangerous holiday.

As an adult, I prefer a fire in the fireplace and a yule log cake for winter solstice. To me, that's the most peaceful thing to do and on my favorite day of the entire year, when there is less daylight than any other day. I am a freak, but I hate sunshine.

I'd like to hear about your traditions.

Comments

  1. When it comes to my family traditions, my Mom was the one who started our "Santa" tradition. When I was little, my mom would go the extra mile to make sure us kids believed in Santa Claus. She would leave letters from the guy, hide clues and scavenger hunts around the house, set up new decorations over night, and many other fun ideas, all to make Christmas truly special. Now it's just my 10 year old sister who believes, and we all think this might be her last year. Kinda sad, really. I decided a long time ago that if I ever have kids, I'll be sure to carry on my Mom's traditions. It only seems right.

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  2. Great attitude! My son couldn't wait from Thanksgiving when the tree went up, so I would put the stockings up with wrapped gifts inside. Each Sunday from Thanksgiving to Christmas, he was allowed to open one stocking stuffer. It kept him going. I left him Santa notes, but I was married at the time and my name was Clauss, so I would accidentally sign a note to him thanking him for the cookies and sign it Santa Clauss. I was mortified and my son laughed and said, "he's making fun of us having similar names." (relief)

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  3. I end up giving away all my gifts. It is now tradition in my family.

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  4. Autumn you've got to love those traditions! We had a feast on Christmas Eve also. All the family gathered we had loads of Polish food. St. Nick came Christmas Eve and yep we had to go to bed too. We did do pickled herring but on New Years Eve for good luck. I don't care for that. We do have straw ornaments but we never did the real candles. It is a wonder you surived! When I had my first son we did open some presents on the Winter Solistice. Now I light candles but not on the tree.

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  5. Echo;
    That's awesome. I have never ever been thrilled about Christmas gifts. My parents were HORRENDOUS gift givers in the very worst way. They even forgot my birthday more times than remembered it. So, I never got into what I would get out of the season. I get thrilled coming up with people's gifts. I love to pick things that say "I totally get how different you are and what you're into." I am like a kid on Xmas just to see people open stuff.

    Becca;
    Excellent t hear your traditions. I know your tree must be covered with your amazing handmake ornaments. You are such a talent! Yeah, pickled herring we used to just eat the onions from it and leave the fish. My father said as a child they made flatbread and put it in dresser drawers for storage for the long winter. Jeez, I hope they didn't tuk their sock and underwear in there. I was so glad they came to America. Seriously. I would have starved to death in the old country.

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  6. Ah, what wonderful memories. My family was pretty strict about Christmas. The tree was never even decorated until I was fast asleep in bed. I had to believe that Santa trimmed it. And always under the tree in the morning was a car or a truck along with all the girlie things, cause dad always wanted a son.

    When I grew and had my boys, that tree decorating tradition was one that I quickly changed and we all begin doing it as a family. I realized when I saw how much joy they had in doing this, just how much I had missed....and today, like you, I absolutely love and must have my Yule Log cake.

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  7. Mary;
    That's interesting. My childhood best friend had parents that didn't get the tree until Xmas eve and decorated and the kids woke up to see a decorated tree and gifts, but I always thought it was depressing going to her house and there was no sign of Christmas, no tree trimming and such. We used to stick ourselves to death with needles stringing popcorn (because the straw ornaments and woven paper hearts weren't flammable enough). I had certain ornaments I insisted on hanging myself (one for each reindeer on Santa's slay). Having it up all month long was like a beacon. Hell, I was such a tomboy, I would have stolen those toys for the boy and ignored all the girl stuff. I'm sure sharing that decorating with your boys really made it all the more magical. I kept some traditions and altered others. I still like opening on Xmas eve. I still like having smorgasbord. I live next to an Ikea, so I can shop in their grocery store and get seriously better stuff to eat for the event. No live candles, though. I don't think the people in my apartment building would appreciate that.

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  8. smorgasbord X-mas eve? That sounds like a jewish holiday.

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  9. CB;
    Half the family celebrating the smorgasbord were Jewish and used to bring some great kosher foods!

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  10. Hmmm...I wish I could say I had family traditions, but my folks divorced when I was six years old. My birthday is also on the 20th but fortunately it was never mixed in with Christmas because as my mother said "It's not her fault she was born five days before Christmas". LOL But because I was from a divorced family and am an only child in edition to being the only grandchild for 9 years, I had Santa at my Mom's, my Dad's and at my Grandparent's house. So that was kinda cool!

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  11. I love that about you--you see that from bad things, good things are born. It's true, you had it made attention wise. I was #5 of the kids and about #30 of the cousins, born LONG after the others, so they were bored and weary by the time I came along. It might not have been traditional for you, but you got attention instead of being invisible. It's all perspective.

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  12. This is true! I'll have to say that the ex and I had our traditions that I loved. We were a couple for 17+ years and married for 10 of them before we separated. I still think of them fondly. The one that sticks out the most is staying up until the wee-hours of the morning on Christmas Eve wrapping gifts at the last minute and watching A Christmas Story over, and over, and over, and over!!! That was one of our traditions! I will cherish it forever!

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  13. That's beautiful. I always loved when they had the "Christmas Story" marathons. I would run it all day and night in the background while doing stuff. "Fra-gill-ee. It's from Italy!"

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  14. LMAO! "NOBODY MOVE!" "A FUSE IS OUT!"

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  15. I think the best was when he got the decoder thing in the mail. I was the dork who bought those plastic glasses in the mail that are supposed to be x-ray as a kid and the bust developer when I was an adolescent (a ball that you squeeze)

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  16. My Mother is Italian so every Christmas eve we would have lasagna and then open presents from each other. My Dad would read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" in his one red and one green sock while sitting in front of the VHS made fire on the TV. He continued that tradition with his grandchildren until he passed away. Today we still have that lasagna dinner, but on the weekend before Christmas and with whoever can show up. My Mom doesn't make the lasagna anymore. She just supervises while her daughters and granddaughters make it.

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  17. As a child; the tradition was that Dad drove us around to look at Christmas lights while my mom stashed the gifts under the tree. Since Santa had already been and gone, we opened our presents. Didn't leave much time for playing with toys!

    When I was a divorced mom; I spent a beautifully peaceful Christmas alone; eating homemade spring rolls and Duck sauce given to me as a gift.

    This year; I was going to toss a wreath on the door and call it even. Instead, I'm listening to music I love, building fires, and drinking cider. The most traditional thing I'll do? Watch "The Christmas Story" and the original "How the Grinch Stole Christmas."

    I also always play "Secret Santa" to others less fortunate; not just during the holidays but year-round. I'd much rather give an unexpected gift or make a donation than receive gifts.

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  18. Okay, I want to become a token Italian. Lasagna would be perfect. I never understood why people cook a whole nother turkey a month after t-giving.

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  19. Brenda;
    It sounds so gentle and peaceful. That's the way it should be. I miss having family. I have my son here, but everyone else is back east. The dilemma is that the relatives I don't particularly enjoy the company of, all live in one place and the family I really adore live in a different place. I think if I move back east, I better move near the family I like or I'll be stuck with the other one on the holidays. Not that they're bad folks, but the words, "highly religious," "conservative," "gun-toting," "small-minded," "judgmental" and "bigoted" come to mind. In fact, I have a funny thing I do every year, I read the letter from my brother's wife. She has a Fundamentalist Backwater Baptist religious freakout all year round but it really shows on Xmastime. My son and I have always eagerly awaited her Xmas letter and we count how many "He" "Lord" "Jesus" "God" and "His" are put into the letter. This year, it was 15. Kind of a lame year. On a good year, there's over 30! She did amp it up this year by ending the pleasant letter with a paragraph about how it's not too late for us to all meet in heaven instead of fire-roasted hell. Ah, doesn't that give you a warm holiday fuzzy?

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  20. Autumnforest:

    I believe I'm related to that very same person! I am constantly explaining to my relative that I'm an adult. I don't need to be preached at; and suggest they might like to go to seminary school. It's been a point of contention for years.

    You are more than welcome to come spend the holiday here. It will be quiet and nonjudgmental. That's a promise!

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  21. Brenda;
    I admit that I am secretly hoping we end up in the east because I have plenty of friends and family there but also most of the bloggers I adore are there and I'd so love to just hit the road and meet them, maybe ghost hunt with them. It'd be a blast. I miss how back east everything is just a day's drive away. Here, to go to LA--6 hours. To go to Albquerque--7 hours. Yeah, it's not easy to get around in the west because the land between big cities is completely devoid of life. There's very little of the land we're allowed to build or live on so it's just open freaking desert.

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