What family traditions did you have?
What family traditions did you have?
Oct 02, 2023
For our birthdays, we got to pick the meal that we wanted for dinner and also dessert. I usually picked Chicken n Biscuits and Lemon Meringue Pie (or sometimes Gingerbread with Lemon Sauce).
For Easter we would receive Easter Baskets, the contents of which varied from year to year, but almost always included some sort of chocolate bunny. The most fun part about the Easter Baskets was finding them! Each year they would be hidden and sometimes with hints, sometimes without, we would go on a treasure hunt to discover the whereabouts of our sweet treats.
For the 4th of July we generally went to my Grandma and Grandpa's home because from their backyard (and later from the big room over the garage that they added on), it was a pretty decent view of the fireworks at Highland Park, which had one of the largest celebrations around. I do remember one year my Uncle Danny trying to put on his own backyard fireworks at the house and us all being just a little bit terrified about how that might go. No one died and everyone still has all their fingers so it turned out.
For Thanksgiving my Mom made homemade bread stuffing. My tradition was to leave the room so I didn’t have to smell the onions cooking. 😉 For Thanksgiving and Christmas we usually went to have dinner with the extended family.
Sometime after we moved to Newark Valley, my parents acquired a beautiful strap of genuine sleigh bells. The sound of these sleigh bells is thunderous when shaken, and their heft is truly stunning. At some point, we began the tradition of caroling through Newark Valley, with Dad carrying the sleigh bells and shaking them vigorously to serve as a jubilant announcement of our arrival at each home. Some years we amassed quite the group to go with us, and other times it was the loyal few, often depending upon the weather. At the end, the steadfast carolers were treated to cocoa and/or hot cider and snacks. I have friends who joined us a time or two who still remember it fondly.
Christmas Eve was our candle night. It blossomed over the years, starting with the handful of candles already owned, to well over one hundred candles, gathered dutifully for that special night. Finding safe places for all the candles was half the fun, and we got fairly creative from year to year. We’d have finger foods and snacks, play board games, listen to music, and enjoy each other’s company in the candlelight. We’d invite friends with whom we wanted to share the evening with, and it was a tradition very near and dear to my heart.
Christmas morning we would await the hour we were allowed to creep downstairs and peek in our stockings. The presents would wait until everyone was awake, but the stockings (and everything in them!) were fair game.
On New Year’s Eve, once we were old enough to stay up late, we were permitted to have a tiny glass of wine. We watched the ball drop on TV, and placed bets about what time Dad would fall asleep in his recliner.
