Christmas Traditions
Hello, Dear Friends!
Today is December 1. This was the first day of the Christmas Season for my parents and me when I was growing up. Today was the day Mother and I started decorating for Christmas by putting up our Christmas tree! We always had an artificial tree, not because we preferred artificial trees, but because I was allergic to the real kind and we chose to have a “no sneeze” Christmas! Mother and I decorated the tree and Daddy gave us compliments on what a wonderful job we did! Mother and I always drank hot chocolate while we decorated so I shall continue the tradition of drinking hot chocolate on December first although living in a retirement community, I do not have a six foot tree to decorate!
Another Christmas tradition my family had was having a Nativity scene in a prominent place in the Harder home. Our Nativity scene was different because Mother never allowed it to be put away. We kept our Nativity Scene up all year. Mother said a Nativity Scene should be up 365 days of the year to remind us that the Baby Jesus needed to be born in our hearts every day of the year!
This year I am suggesting to everyone I talk to that we each start a new Christmas tradition this year. My new tradition is going be to call one person a day until after Christmas and wish that person a wonderful Christmas! What about you? What Christmas tradition would you like to add this Christmas?
One way to get ideas of what would be a good tradition to add would be to look through out the internet and look up “Christmas traditions.” You might want to look up traditions from your family’s historical home in the old country. Here are some of the traditions I found on the home pages of some of the European countries.
In France, one tradition is having a Yule log or “buche de Noel” for Christmas dessert. Incidentally the big Christmas meal in France is on Christmas Eve before Midnight Mass, not on Christmas Day! There are many variations of a Yule log. You can’t go wrong with any of them!
In England a Christmas tradition is eating mincemeat pies during teatime throughout the pre-Christmas season. Mincemeat pies have been popular since Victorian times. They are made of dried fruits and spices and no meat!
Well, no matter what new tradition you add to your Christmas celebration enjoy it and have a wonderful celebration!
Merry Christmas and Peace be with you!!
Love until next time,
Hope
