If you’re not a fan of Fiddler on the Roof, you may not get this reference, but regardless, the thought of traditions came to mind at a women’s luncheon that I attended in December. We were doing an ice-breaker event at our table, and one of the questions was, “Does your family have any holiday traditions?”
A couple of women thought of a thing or two, but the others couldn’t think of anything. When it was my turn to speak, I rattled off a half-dozen things that we do as a family, but that was just the tip of the iceberg. The Lauer family is all about traditions, especially at Christmastime.
No judgment here, please, but our traditions start as early as November 1 each year. That’s when John and I start listening to Christmas music on Pandora at night for an hour or so when we go to bed. (This tradition started in my childhood when my mom would start listening to the Reader’s Digest Christmas records in late fall, particularly on cold, blustery days.) Every year, on the day after Thanksgiving, we put up our tree and all the indoor and outdoor Christmas décor. With three of our grandchildren helping us now, we can get the whole job done in about three hours. That’s also the day that our son comes over and makes our annual batch of Chex Party Mix.
When our four kids were at home, and we were living on a shoestring budget, on Thanksgiving weekend, we had our annual family trip to the movies, splurging on not only six tickets, but a bucket of popcorn and one large soda to split (free refills, so enough to keep everyone happy). We saw the classics, from Harry Potter to The Lord of the Rings. We don’t do the Thanksgiving weekend movies anymore, but we do go with our grandkids to the annual Fox Valley Festival of Lights.
For 25-plus years, the first week of December, we’ve gone to see the annual production of Christmas Stars at St. Francis Xavier High School. In December, we start watching our favorite Christmas movies (old-school DVDs and Blu-rays), including such classics as Jingle All the Way, Christmas Vacation, The Holiday, Christmas in Connecticut, Family Man, Miracle on 34th Street, A Charlie Brown Christmas, The Grinch (various versions), A Christmas Carol, Four Christmases, Elf, Arthur Christmas, and Santa Clause I, II, and III. Most years, it takes us through January to finish them all, especially now since we’ve added Hallmark, Netflix, and Amazon Prime Christmas movies to the queue.
When our grandkids start Christmas vacation, we devote a day to Christmas baking, which always includes Christmas cut-out cookies, using my mom’s recipe from 1957, and peanut butter balls. We have other recipes that we add to the list some years, ranging from molasses cookies to peanut butter cups, Seven-Layer Bars, and peanut/cashew clusters. We usually reserve the cookie frosting and decorating for Festivus, December 23.
Each year, everyone, particularly our grandkids, looks forward to Reindeer Games, which are games played in our basement: darts, foosball, and ping pong. It’s amazing how competitive we all are, and how good the grandkids are getting at these games. No one’s letting anyone win, that’s for sure!
Puzzles, most in the 1000-piece category, are put together each holiday season. When our daughter arrives from Ohio, we play games every day, either at our house or at our son’s house. Kid-friendly ones during the day, and games for older players at night, once the kids are in bed. Some of our favorites are Settlers of Catan, Code Names, Ticket to Ride, and Dominoes. But every year, new games are added to the mix.
We can’t forget the food! When everyone is in town, we try to eat together once a day. These meals include anything from cookout fare to JD’s Drive-In to Stuc’s calzones to ham on Christmas Day. Before our youngest daughter goes back to Ohio, we celebrate her late December birthday a couple of days early with takeout from Gingerootz.
The whole group is together for Christmas Eve day, then we go our separate ways. Everyone at our house attends Mass in the evening. On Christmas Day, we give the grandkids time to enjoy their gifts at home and head over to our son’s house after lunch to exchange gifts.
This was the first Christmas Eve in my whole life that I didn’t spend part of the evening with my dad. Traditionally, he and my stepmom had John, me, and the kids over for a light dinner and gift opening after we got out of 4:30 Mass. Unfortunately, my stepmom passed away on March 9 of this year, and my dad passed away six months later on September 11. I like to think they were enjoying our Christmas celebration from Heaven this year.
On New Year’s Eve, John and I have the house to ourselves and watch the movie It’s a Wonderful Life. Most years, we make it up until midnight, but when we don’t, we figure it’s midnight somewhere in the world and celebrate early. We’ll do a kombucha toast and reflect on the previous year and what we’re looking forward to in the coming year.
When Christmas vacation winds down, and everyone is back home safe and sound, then it’s time for John and me to settle down for our long winter nap. Just kidding! In early January, we had the grandkids over to take down the Christmas décor and the tree, and then they decorated the house for winter with my snowman collection. At the end of January, they’ll come back and switch out the snowmen for Valentine’s décor. On February 2, John and I celebrate the day by watching the classic movie Groundhog Day.
All these traditions may sound like a lot, but they fit our family well, and we look forward to them each year. What about you? Do you have as many holiday traditions as we do? What are your favorites?