Christmas Traditions

Jo here, celebrating Christmas in Whitby, with Charlie as a Christmas Elf and Billy as the Frost Elf. That's part of our tradition. Even if we start with approximately the same rites of Christmas, we soon all develop our own variations, don't we?

Some people decorate the tree weeks ahead. Others do it on Christmas Eve. In my home the tree and decorations came out when whichever of us were at boarding school came home. In our home now, we decorate at the beginning of December because we like the light and glitter of it all. But the Cabbage Patch Kids only make their trasformation on Christmas Eve.  :)

Do you have any slightly different Christmas traditions, either from your family or developed on your own? Please share.

Below, I'm sharing a blog I did for the Romantic Novelists Association here in the UK. They wanted Christmas tree stories, and I thought readers here might like this.

When my son was nearly one, I bought a Christmas tree on impulse at the Sears Clearance Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia. (To the left is a view of a snowy Halifax from our apartment window, where we spent our first Christmas treeless, waiting for Jonathan to be born. He arrived early on December 30th.)

  Here's a picture from that first Christmas, with the tree in danger from curious fingers.

It was a very basic artificial tree, but over the years it became our tradition even as we moved across Canada to Montreal, then Ottawa, then Victoria.

When we decided to come home to England we thought its time had come, but we realized we could only put light stuff in some filing cabinets, so we packed the tree in it.

Now here it is, in Whitby, carrying 31 years of Christmas memories,.

All joy of Christmastide!

Jo

Comments

[Anne Gracie]

I love Christmas trees, Jo, but I like the real ones that smell so lovely -- too bad about the dropping needles. Didn't have time to get one this year, though, so sprayed a few twigs silver and hung some paper decorations on them.
I suspect part of my love for Christmas trees comes from the story The Good Little Christmas Tree, by Ursula Moray Williams which I mentioned in Susan's post. I've just found the illustrations on line, and they're so beautiful I have to share -- they're scissor cuts by the author and it's from the first edition, which was my mother's book, bought when she was young.
http://tinyurl.com/ydvw7ou

[Lyn S]

Trees are a big part of Christmas. We were married Dec 29 during break our senior yr in college. We didn't have money for a tree. I made a tree on the wall with thumbtacks and lights. My mother-in-law surprised me with a small live tree. They always had artificial as the real ones were very expensive in Miami. Now we have two trees. A small artificial one with white lights and my Margaret Furlong shell ornaments and a huge 15 foot live one with colored lights and all the ornaments we have made or been given over the years. I am most blessed.
Anne -- I am seriously thinking of quilting the Good Little Christmas Tree cover. Fused applique would work. Now I need to budget for more fabric and books.

[kay]

I have ornaments passed down from my mother, that have to be on the tree. They're starting to look pretty ratty, but they have to go up. One of those ornament I cherish has some kind of a spinning thing inside it, which doesn't work anymore because the heat from the lights make it spin and our light don't heat up. But I remember watching it when I was a child, it was always placed above the bubble lights. Is going to Target every year the day after Christmas a tradition?

[Linda Banche]

I love Christmas trees. Now we have so much stuff in the house, we have no room for one. So, my husband, techo-geek that he is, bought a small (about 6 inches tall) LED Christmas tree. It works.

[Hampers]

Nice blog. There is no ideal Christmas, only the one Christmas you decide to make as a reflection of your values, desires, affections, traditions.

[Jo Beverley]

Jo here.

Absolutely true about there not being an ideal Christmas. At its best, it's a time that brings about connections that we often let slide the rest of the year.

Thanks for posting, everyone. I'll be back in a couple of days with the list of recommended Historical TV and a winner.

Jo

[maryjoputney]

Jo, I love that your little impulse tree has followed you all the way from Canada to England! A fated relationship. *g*

When I was a kid, we always cut the tree in the farther reaches of the farm, so it was very fresh. We didn't have the kind of tree stand that is made now, so something cats would climb the tree and it might even fall over. Amusing in retrospect. *g*

On my present tree are lots of ornaments I've had for years, and they come with stories. Lots of snow flake ornaments, some angels, and a variety of cute little animals that always come in pairs, because I'm a romance writer and I like to pair everyone off, even Christmas tree ornaments. *g*

January 2nd--down it all comes!

Mary Jo

[Andrea Penrose]

LOL on the artificial tree, Jo. My older brother bought his at a tag sale years ago,and it's now a great family tradition in his house.

When I was little, my mother, who was from Switzerland, bought a package there of holders for real candles. She loved that memory from her childhood and was determined to try it one year with us. Well, after several small fires, the idea was sadly abandoned. What she forgot was the two slightly dotty maiden aunts who were stationed with wet washclothes in her old family home. Our dog didn't feel like standing guard duty , so it was back to electric lights.

I still chuckle about that Christmas.

[Anne]

Jo, your tree reminds me of the table-top tree my parents had when I was very little. When I was a little older, we used to go into the woods on my uncle's farm and cut down our own. When dh was in seminary, I settled for an artificial tree to save money, but I always prefer the real deal, dropping needles and all. :) As for Christmas traditions, one of my favorites is on Christmas Eve when we read the Christmas story and sing Silent Night, finished with one verse in German sung by my dad who learned it from his "grossma."
Thanks for another fun post.

[Sherrie Holmes]

My last live Christmas tree was one I cut on my property many years ago. I stuck it in a 5 gallon bucket of sand and then filled it with water. After Christmas that tree went onto the back porch and I kept watering it. The darned thing stayed green until July, when we had a heat wave and I forgot to water it. Practically overnight all the needles fell off! LOL!

Now I decorate my ficus tree. I bought two new boxes of lights this year and strung the first string of lights on the lower branches of the ficus tree, then couldn't find the second box. As a result my "Christmas tree" only had lights on the bottom and nothing on the top. *g*

[theo]

I love a real Christmas tree and we still have one every year (except for the one year we lived with the in-laws over Christmas because our house wasn't finished) and will continue to have a real one until my husband can't stand dragging it in and out of the house anymore. :-P

We do Michigan White Pines though. I have a tendency to forget to water my tree, but I can leave these up until Valentine's Day and they lose nary a needle. And there are only a dozen or so when the tree is put outside for the birds.

This year though, three strands of my twinkle lights took a dive. I checked each--little--light--on all three strands, but couldn't get them working so my tree isn't as sparkley as I like. But I got new ones on sale for next year! Bwahahaha