Favourite Christmas Traditions
There are many Christmas traditions that I enjoy and look forward to every year, but with the crazy pace of modern life, it has become more difficult to fit them all in. I probably haven’t done any Christmas baking in five years or more, yet I used to really enjoy setting aside an entire day to make gingerbread and shortbread cookies, all the while listening to carols on the stereo. It’s a relaxing activity and the cookies make a great hostess gift for holiday parties, not to mention the scrumptious scents that linger in your kitchen. It’s no wonder people trying to sell their houses often burn candles that smell like apple pie or chocolate brownies to trick you into feeling at home, never mind the pet pee odours those candles are attempting to mask, but I digress…
I moved in the fall, so cookies Sain’t Happenin’ this year. (I haven’t yet unpacked the box with the baking sheets.) If Christmas cards are going to make it out the door, they need to be written and addressed by this weekend. (I don’t like their chances.) But one tradition I’m definitely partaking in - because it requires no prep on my part, let’s be truthful - is attending Handel’s Messiah, performed by the TSO and Toronto Mendelssohn Choir at Roy Thomson Hall. The music is beautiful, the lyrics are accessible (it was written in English) and even if you don’t have an extensive knowledge of or appreciation for classical music, you’ll at least recognize the Hallelujah chorus because of its frequent use in pop culture. It’s truly an inspirational way to kick off the holiday season.
What are some of your favourite traditions? Feel free to post a reply in the section below. Today’s Jack Nation bonus code is TRADITION. You have until December 17th to score 100 points by entering it at www.925jackfm.com.
December 14th, 2007 at 4:48 pm
As a Brampton Mailman for 19 years, I take a great deal of pride in finding the new address of older people who get mail from overseas or even near.
It only happens around now, but cards show up with just a name, or a phone # long since out of use, or a postal code not used since 1970, a street name, no #, and go out of my way to get it to them on my own time.
Sometimes this is a last letter from an old friend or relative who wants to touch base one last time, or someone without Facebook looking for a lost love or relative.
The look on the face of the recipient is all I need to do it.
Some say I’m nuts, but a letter from home is a tradition in my family, and I know it is all some need to enjoy the season, so I do it when I can.
December 14th, 2007 at 8:29 pm
We always bake - sometimes cookies, sometimes tarts. And for Christmas day there is always pumpkin pie. Another tradition from as long as I can remember is baking a big roasting tin full of homemade Bits N Bites (or Nuts and Bolts as my mom always called them). Family would drop by over the holidays, and there were always bowls of the crunchy treats out, as well as slices of fruitcake and homemade chocolate chip brownies and cookies.
We were only allowed to open our stockings on Christmas morning and look at the one unwrapped toy that was from Santa, before getting dressed and going to church. When I was a teenager, we started going to Christmas Eve family services, so we could just rip right into the presents on Christmas morning.
December 14th, 2007 at 9:39 pm
midnight mass
December 15th, 2007 at 1:54 pm
Hope you have a great Christmas. Most European traditions involve the close family being together for a fish dish dinner. We then do gifts and Kris Kringles, and then the individual families leave so we can each go our midnight masses.
December 15th, 2007 at 3:17 pm
Christmas Traditions…ahhhhh…I remember as a little girl, going to Midnight Mass with my family. Singing the Christmas Carols aloud, and being in my own world watching all the candles flickering.
Coming home, and the snow starting to fall heavily outside while my siblings and I were nice and cozy, munching on a big box of choclates…the Christmas lights turned on, and sparkling, with the rest of the house lights out. Sitting in my big flannel PJ’s, wearing my dads oversized socks. Playing ‘Glen Campbell’s Christmas’ on vinyl, and hearing my dads beautiful voice singing along…Presents. Toboganning. All the food!!! The visits from and to relatives. Ice skating on our street,when
the water from the river flooded, and froze. Not one bad Christmas as a child.THE CHRISTMAS PARTIES!!!! From our parents work places.
So many memories.
Christmas is my favorite time of year…to stare out the window with my daughter, and watch some snow fall. Oh, and still listening to ‘Glen Campbell’s Christmas’ album…..
Happy Holidays!