Christmas traditions

Our family has honed our Christmas customs. The traditions have remained almost constant for over 30 years and many stem back to my Scottish and English ancestrry. Christmas supper will see anywhere from fourteen to eighteen family and friends gathered around my mother’s dining room table.
The afternoon of Christmas Eve, my sister with her sons will have gone to mom’s home and will have carried up the large four foot by 10 foot board to stretch the table. Mom’s hand crocheted lace table cloth will sit over a white linen cloth. Candles and a centrepiece will be aligned down the centre.
For Christmas, we will eat from mom’s “Company China” dishes with her gleaming silverware. Today it only happens once a year. The “Waterford” crystal wine glasses and water goblets will sparkle in the light cast from the crystal chandelier.
In front of each place setting a handcrafted “bobbin” person with a guest’s name on it will sit inviting the person to sit at that spot at the table. . Missing family members will have their name person in the centre of the table.
When the family arrives late on Christmas afternoon, the aromas of roasting turkey, plum pudding and other once a year dishes will have filled my mother’s home. Many of the dishes have found their way from my grandparents, to my parents and now on to our children.
My mother today in her mid eighties plays host to all of us. The cooking is done by family and is very much potluck, although no family member will ever arrive with any food that doesn’t meet the most rigorous test for freshness and flavour. Each dish is a treat.
Mom’s tree sparkles with all its lights and ornaments gathered from her children and grand children, each with a memory. It has probably been up for three weeks. It used to be a natural tree, but now is a “fake”, but is just perfect.
But before the meal is eaten, the traditions that build to this day have begun weeks and months before. Outdoor lights have been hung. Nativity scenes have been placed out in prominence. Christmas ornaments decorate the interiors of homes.
In our home an old fashion miniature “Christmas” Village sits atop a blanket of snow on the fireplace mantle, lit with tiny lights that brings life to the interior of every building. The Christmas village was a tradition in my wife’s family and she and my two sons built and painted each new building. Miniature people, trees, benches street lights have been added over the years.
Christmas customs and celebrations are different in every family, but the warmth and comfort that they provide pass from generation to generation, with each new generation adding some new wrinkle to the celebration of the holiday season.
I hope that each and everyone takes the time to enjoy their traditions that have been created over lifetimes. Merry Christmas and happy holidays.

–Jim Cumming,
Publisher