What are your annual family Christmas traditions? If you don’t have a family, have you created your own Christmas traditions?
My family is not one to invest a lot of energy into “doing things”, if you know what I mean. It didn’t bother me so much as a child, but as an adult I’m frequently exasperated at how much cajoling and convincing it takes to get my family to expend energy on anything that’s outside their expected routine. This year, for instance, will be the first time that everybody will be present – to include me! – in the same house, at the same time, in several years due to my recent multi-year tour through Southwest Asia. As we were planning the get together this year I suggested we should do a White Elephant gift exchange instead of a more traditional gift exchange, owing to the shitty economy and the fact we’re all (blessedly) employed adults who frankly don’t need more stuff. No money spent and you get rid of crap laying around your house! What’s not to like? But oh my lord the anxiety at discussing trying something new . . .
There are, however, two traditions that we seem to fall into every year without anyone questioning or complaining. First is the Christmas Eve Pig Out. Which, if we’re honest, fits neatly into the “fuck it, it’s too much work to be worth it” ethos we share in my family – I think our family crest should include a dude laying on the couch, arm out-stretched for that remote that’s just out of reach – but still, it’s a tradition. Instead of having a proper Christmas dinner, we lay out a spread of finger foods on Christmas Eve, then sit gorging ourselves while we lounge around someone’s living room kibitzing. The foods vary a bit from year to year, but annual stalwarts of our Pig Out include:
Crackers, pretzels, and chips
- Various processed dips
- A number of balls of cheese – my favorite is the port wine cheese!
- A variety of preserved meat products, such as summer sausage. Nitrates are totally Christmasy!
- Mini-hot dogs wrapped in savory pastry – do you call these Pigs in a Blanket, or is it just us?
- Plastic Tupperware storage bins full of home made Christmas cookies. These my mother has been baking for weeks and the bins have been stacked six and seven foot high out on the porch in the cold weather to keep them fresh. We’ll have cookies for months afterwards.
- Shrimp cocktail. This is my father’s favorite. We were not well off while I was growing up, and it was the height of indulgence for him to splurge on a couple pounds of shrimp from the local Wegman’s and some cocktail sauce for the Christmas Eve Pig Out once per year.
After we eat, we take a break and usually all the little kids are allowed to open one present of their choice, while the rest are left for Christmas morning. We then go back to eating and talking some more. Yes, my family struggles with obesity and diabetes.
The other Christmas tradition that sort of just happened is what I’ll call Jamming Everyone Into The Car and Driving Around the City For Hours Looking At Everyone Else’s Christmas Lights. My father loves this tradition. As a teenager, I didn’t care quite so much for it, and now that I’m an adult I can opt out if I’m not in the mood. But as a small kid, I loved driving through the neighborhoods where several houses went in together and decorated their block whole hog. Bright! Shiny! Blinky! OOH, LOOK IT’S SANTA!!
Now that we have grandchildren appearing, the tradition has been reinvigorated. I’m sure I’ll end up wedged into the back seat with my middle aged sister and her teenage sons this year, and I plan on provoking the boys endlessly, knowing how miserable they are at that moment.
What seems to happen every year at Christmas time around your neighborhood?