As we approach Christmas and all the other holidays in the next few weeks, we thought we would share with you some of our own thoughts and memories about holidays past.
The holidays I remember most– From Nancy Healey
At first it seemed challenging to go back over my previous 77 holiday seasons and choose a few that have been most memorable. They were not the ones when I got the biggest gifts or went on the most exciting trips. When I was 7 or 8, my dad quit his job with a big company to start his own company. Finances were very tight. My mother and I were in a small store, and I saw a tiny green metal frog that I fell in love with. It was 25 cents, which even then was not a lot of money, but I knew we could not afford it and we left the store. On Christmas morning the little frog was wrapped and under our tree. There was not another gift that could have made me happier. I still have him in my jewelry box today.
My first Christmas away from home was 1964. I was a new stewardess for American Airlines in New York. We had absolutely no control over our flight schedules. I still remember picking up my December schedule and seeing that I miraculously had 3 days off at Christmas. I thought I was too sophisticated to be homesick so had not shared this, but I really wanted to be home for Christmas. We flew free but on standby, so I knew my chance of getting flights home and back was slim. I went to LaGuardia very early on my first day off determined to stay until I got a flight. Again, I was lucky and got on a flight to Washington National Airport where my mom and dad picked me up. When I got off the plane and saw my folks for the first time in months, I knew I was the happiest and luckiest person alive.
My best and most wonderful holidays were in 1968 and 1970. The gifts Tom and I received were the most remarkable and perfect ever. My son Tom was born on December 22,1968 and my daughter Lynn was born on November 29, 1970. The happiness they have brought into our lives is incalculable.
The sights and sounds of our holidays – From Dinah Frishling
If you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Dwali, the Winter Solstice & Yule, or Kwanza, you know how powerfully they stimulate our minds, emotions, creativity, energy, ideals, and reverence, to such a degree that every year of our lives we look forward to it. Most of our celebrations have their historical roots in a religion, which is often passed through the family tree, establishing a rich medley of intertwined familial and spiritual connections. Through the eons, these practices and traditions have been embellished many-fold and personalized to produce an experience that changes through time, but always works to raise our spirits high in the winter. I like to think of all the traditions created, that are so pleasing to our senses. The nose & eyes (the smell of the fir tree and candles; the lights and beautiful decorations), the ears (music surrounds us, from the sacred to the playful), and let us not forget the stomach! It is a time of gastronomical delight rarely experienced in normal times. Often there are wonderful customs involved of giving and receiving. If this were not enough, the holidays are an opportunity to connect and celebrate with our families and friends, and to raise our voices in song, around a fireplace, in a beautiful holy place, or in our own beautiful gardens. So much for which to be grateful.
Our Swedish holidays – from Linda Bergthold
My parents were both Swedish. My dad was born in Sweden and orphaned at the age of 8. He came to America with his 14 year-old sister and never really knew how Christmas would have been celebrated in his small town of Vrigstad. My mother’s parents were born in Sweden and brought with them many wonderful traditions, so she took over the Christmas celebrations early in their marriage. Christmas Eve was the main event. Our dinner began with rice pudding, in which an almond or two had been buried that would announce the next engagement or a chance to be the first to open gifts to the person who found it. As the years went by, mom would put more almonds in the pudding to be sure someone had their wish come true!
Before we could consume our traditional Swedish dinner of meatballs, ham, Janssons Temptation (scalloped potatoes), red cabbage, green beans and maybe some herring, each member of the family was asked to read a poem we had written for the occasion. Even the smallest child had to read something, no matter how short. We were told the poems were a Swedish tradition, but we learned years later they were the product of our mother’s imagination, and her way to get us to laugh and cry together.
Much angst went into the construction of the poems, trying to make each one funnier or more poignant than the last. Tears were shed – of joy and frustration, as we tried to write and express something more original every year (see examples below). Finally, after reading the poems, we were able to open our presents after the dinner, to the great relief of all the children whose patience had been sorely tested, waiting for the gifts through a lot of chatting and laughing.
Some families waited until Christmas morning to open gifts, but our family opened them Christmas Eve (somehow Santa had already been there?) and we went to church Christmas Day for a celebration of “Julotta,” where we sang carols, lit candles and consumed cardamom buns and coffee.
Now that my parents have both died, some of the traditions have disappeared, and we lament that every year. We no longer do poems, but the food remains a central part of our Swedish Christmas, and it always will
(Here are two examples of Christmas poems one year)
“This year I went to Macchu Pichu
I hiked the Inca Trail
Searching for the Inca rice pudding
with the golden almond.
I’m still looking for it
in the New Year.
Wishing all of you a Merry Christmas
and a Happy New Year!”
“As I sat to write this poem down
I realized my poetry skills had gone to town.
No snap, no sizzle and no big funny
No family member who would give me money.
The year in politics, so much to say,
But a rhyming rendition is all I can display.
So this is my ode to the year gone by.
The thought that there’s three more makes me cry.”*
(This latter reference was to the prospect of three more years of President George Bush)
No matter how you celebrate or what you celebrate, we wish you a joyous season! Please keep in touch with us in the new year. We always appreciate your comments and feedback.♥