Holiday traditions in my family have been (and continue to be) drastically changing as we are losing family members<\/p>\n
Thanksgiving was always at Grandmas house until she left us. She lived up north in Duluth, and we\u2019d go up the night before. When my sis and I were small, we\u2019d actually sing \u201cOver the river and through the woods, to Grandmother\u2019s house, we go!\u201d, while in the car on the long drive! We\u2019d get there late evening and stay up eating homemade treats drink coffee and play board games. We played Yahtzee! or 6-5-4, but as we got older it would be \u201cScattergories\u201d, \u201cTrivial Persuit\u201d, or \u201cSequence\u201d. Breakfast was always early at Grandma\u2019s, you might even miss it! She\u2019d be up at 5am, sitting and drumming her fingers on the table waiting for the rest of us to wake up. It\u2019s so funny because she always got the paper read, had the NY Times crossword puzzle finished (which she did EVERY morning) and had breakfast ready and hers eaten, before the rest of us could mosey into the kitchen! Uncle Larry always bought the turkey (a huge one, about 20 lbs). It would get stuffed and go into the oven after breakfast. Macy\u2019s Thanksgiving Day Parade would be on the TV in the living room but mom always managed to pull us girls away and give us little tasks to do like \u201cStir the gravy\u201d, or \u201cgo run down the hall and get Grandma\u2019s stool for her, she needs to stop standing at the stove too much.\u201d Thanksgiving dinner was in the afternoon and we\u2019d eat turkey, mashed potatoes (which Uncle Larry would mash), stuffing, salad, beets, and sweet potatoes with butter and marshmallows. Sis and I would make the salad and put out a big pickle & relish tray, wash and set the table (Grandma\u2019s fancy homemade tablecloth, placemats, linen napkins, and her good flatware & china) and then afterward clean up the table and do the dishes. Then it was on to the football game, or the Snore Fest, rather, because Grandma in her last years always had at least THREE La-Z-Boy recliner chairs (barcoloungers, whatever you call them) in her livingroom and Dad, Cousin Jim, and Uncle Larry would all go in, turn on the game, and promptly stuff their asses into a recliner. Not a few minutes after kickoff, and the snoring would commence! Us girls would finish up the dishes and along with Grandma and Mom, we would go into the diningroom and look at the Christmas sales in the paper or visit with each other. Then we\u2019d wake the men up for pie and coffee. There would be pumpkin, apple, mincemeat, pecan, and sometimes peach, cherry, or strawberry pretzel pie. We\u2019d be cutting pieces and ask Dad what kind he\u2019d like to have a piece of, naming off all what was there and he\u2019d reply by saying \u201cYah\u201d, meaning all of it, I guess! The drive home was long but pleasant and we\u2019d plan for Christmas gift shopping and if it was the weekend, put up the tree and decorate it, help dad get the outdoor decorations put up, etc. Mom would turn the house upside down with all the Christmas decorations, musicals, figurines, ornaments, etc. and dad the lit the house up on the outside and in the yard. The advent calendar (similar to this one) would go up, 25 days before Christmas. Ours had a tree on it, and the day that you put it the calendar up, all the pockets had all the pieces in them. One by one, a piece would get placed up on the tree to signify how many days until Christmas, reserving the top of the tree for the last day, the piece being baby Jesus.<\/p>\n
On Christmas eve we would go to candlelight vigil at church (very late night, about 10-11 pm). Before we went, we\u2019d put up the baby Jesus advent piece up on the calendar, and set out cookies and milk for Santa Claus. Mom and dad were able to keep us believing in Santa for many years because, being the clever parents they were, Dad would eat the cookies and drink the milk but remember to leave crumbs and put some ash on the plate to signify Santa had been smoking his pipe after enjoying his treat. Us girls were so surprised and excited to see this and to come home and find the tree dwarfed by the heaps of presents underneath and all around!<\/p>\n
When we got to be a bit older Santa would visit us (a friend of the family would actually go around to the neighborhood dressed as Santa) and he would stop by on Christmas eve night. Mom and Dad would make up breakfast in a pan (very much like your family\u2019s strata, Kristine) and put that in the fridge. We\u2019d still go to church but eventually us kids found out that Dad was the one who put all the presents under the tree while we were gone! We\u2019d stay up late opening presents and then played games and have drinks and snacks. Then on Christmas day morning, Mom and Dad would marinate a couple huge slabs of Country style pork ribs and put them in the oven to bake all morning, basting them with tons of homemade barbecue sauce and we\u2019d have a good old fashioned ribs and corn on the cob dinner on Christmas day afternoon. This was BEFORE Famous Dave even became Famous!<\/p>\n
As sis and I got to be adults my sis\u2019s DH Tony would be the one helping mom make the ribs on Christmas day since Dad had been living in the nursing home, and we would go and have a special dinner with Dad and we\u2019d all bring him presents and visit. Also we haven\u2019t gone to Duluth since 2000 when we lost Grandma and now we\u2019ll have to find someone to mash the potatoes now that my Uncle is gone! This is very hard for all of us, especially for Mom but we have had some new traditions. In recent years, my sis, my mom and her best friend all get together at mom\u2019s sometime after Turkey dayand bake tons of cookies: sugar, spritz, cutouts, choc. chip, oatmeal, peanut butter, rum balls, you name it, we make it! That is a fun one for us because while we\u2019re mixing and baking we drink wine and listen to one of the radio stations that plays holiday music round the clock til Dec 26th. Then we wind up storing most of the cookies in plastic and freezing them to give as gifts at Christmas. Last thanksgiving was at my sister\u2019s house because mom just moved in to her new house and it was very nice for mom to not worry about anything for once. This year will be at mom\u2019s and I\u2019m bringing a ham, some salad and a cheeseball, hopefully some new traditions.<\/p>\n
Why don\u2019t you share yours (click on comments area)<\/p>\n
\nOther posts on this day:<\/p>\n
Holiday traditions in my family have been (and continue to be) drastically changing as we are losing family members Thanksgiving was always at Grandmas house until she left us. She lived up north in Duluth, and we\u2019d go up the night before. When my sis and I were small, we\u2019d actually sing \u201cOver the river … <\/p>\n