Christmastime Traditions

It's time for Ten on Tuesday again, and this week the topic is:

10  Cultural Traditions You Observe For the Holidays

My background - as you may have guessed - is Irish American, and when my grandparents came here, the idea at the time was to become as American as possible, so you didn't "stick out."  Especially if you were Irish, which was not considered a good thing.  As a result, a lot of the Irish traditions were put aside, so that they could celebrate American Christmas.

However, in the spirit of things, Carole has said that if we do not have a lot of ethnic traditions of our own, we should list 10 Traditions You Observe For The Holidays.  That is what I am going to do, listing a mishmash of family traditions, as well as ones that The Tim and I have created for our own little family.

1.  The definition of Christmastime.  We observe Christmastime beginning December 1 through January 6.  This is something that I have done since childhood.  My mother's birthday was December 2, so we didn't put up any decorations until after that, but we could play Christmas music starting December 1.  And the last day of Christmastime is January 6, the Epiphany, when the Wise Men arrived at the manger.  Decorations never even think of being put away before then.

2.  Christmas Eve.  This has always been a big deal in my family.  It's kind of the ultimate day of anticipation and preparation.  The Tim usually has to work on Christmas Eve, and doesn't usually get home until 7:00 pm or so.  I spend the day doing any last-minute preparations around the house, and making our dinner for that evening, Christmas Eve risotto.  If it's not pouring rain, I like to go out for a little while and walk around enjoying the hustle and bustle.  Once he gets home, we have our dinner, then put on our pjs and watch "It's a Wonderful Life," while having a gin and tonic, then put the gifts under the tree, fill the stockings, and sit in the dark by just the Christmas tree lights until it's time to go to bed.

3.  Christmas Eve Risotto.  A few years back, The Tim found the recipe, and we always have it on Christmas Eve because it has broccoli rabe and red peppers in it - thus red and green!

4.  Baby Jesus gets placed into the manger.  At midnight, our baby Jesus gets placed into the manger, after all of us kiss him and say "Happy Birthday, Baby Jesus."

5.  "It's a Wonderful Life."  This must be watched on Christmas Eve, while having a gin and tonic, and you must be wearing your pajamas.

6.  "The Night Before Christmas" - we always read this aloud on Christmas Eve.

7.  Turnips and holly.  At least one turnip hollowed out to hold a lit candle, and with a sprig of holly next to it must be in one window of the house, so that the Holy Family will know where to stop if they need shelter.  (And don't worry, the candle does not stay lit after we go to bed!)

8.  A too-small dish for the cranberry sauce at Christmas dinner.  This goes for Thanksgiving too, but the cranberry sauce for dinner must be in a dish that is too small.  This is something that we always did growing up, and I found out as an adult that it was just because when my parents were first married, they didn't have a dish large enough for the cranberry sauce!

9.  Holiday cheeseball.  As long as I can remember, my mother would make holiday cheeseball, and for whatever reason, it should only be made between December 22 and 24.  (I have a feeling that this is a case of when she would finally get to it, but I still do it then.)

10.  Kielbasa.  My father's sister married a man from Poland, and they always had a big party on Christmas Eve, which was also my aunt's birthday.  They always had kielbasa, so my father would always fix some for us at our house as well.  Now we make vegetarian kielbasa at Christmastime.  (I will admit that "real" kielbasa is the only meat I actually ever miss, and only at Christmastime ...)

There are other things we do, and that I have always done, but these are the things that came to mind first.  As I said, some are family things, and some we have created ourselves.  They make the whole Christmastime experience better, if you ask me!

In Which We Do Something Christmas-y

A week or so ago, I wrote a post on my other blog about how, now that The Tim works a varied, busy schedule during the holiday period, we don't do very many Christmas-y things together anymore.  It took some adjustment on my part to get used to, but now it's just the way things are.

Well, this past Friday, we had a chance to do something together, and it was one of the best Christmastime days EVER.  I was lucky enough to receive two complimentary tickets to Longwood Gardens, which is about 40 minutes from our house in Center City Philadelphia.  As long as we've lived here, we've never visited before, even though I don't know anyone who has gone who has not raved about it.  Every year, they have a well-known Christmas display, and fortunately the comp tickets included admission for this time period.

So, since The Tim had the day off, I took the day off, and we took ourselves out to breakfast, then headed to our destination.  There was snow, but it had been around long enough that the roads were clear.  It was cold, but sunny.  We walked, oohed and aahed, took pictures, had coffee and tea, joined in a Christmas carols sing-a-long with the amazing Aeolian organ in the ballroom there, and even saw one of the Longwood Gardens resident cats!

My descriptions would not do any justice to the whole thing, so here is a selection of pictures from the day.  Enjoy - and if you ever have the chance to go, do it!

Do You Hear What I Hear?

Exactly three weeks from today, it will be CHRISTMAS DAY!!  If you are a regular reader of this blog, you'll know that Christmastime is my favorite time of year.  Along with that goes my love of Christmas music,  So when Favorite Christmas Albums was the topic for this week's Ten on Tuesday, I thought it only appropriate that I shared my favorites.

Needless to say, these are not my only favorites, but these are some that I thought of, and have been listening to already, so here you go in no particular order.

Top Ten  Favorite Christmas Albums

1.  A Christmas Heritage - this truly is a favorite, with some beautiful renditions of some classics, and some new ones I hadn't heard before.  Plus, one of the musicians is someone I went to elementary school with, and whose father was my brother-in-law's first law partner!

2.  The Sound of Christmas - Julie Andrews.  This is one that we got years ago, when Hallmark used to produce CDs or tapes for the Christmas season.  

3.  Christmas with the Cambridge Singers - I'd never heard of the Cambridge Singers when I bought this CD, but I liked the cover, I enjoy choral music, and there were songs I liked on it.  This almost immediately became a favorite, and there are two songs on it that always nearly bring me to tears.

4.  Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer "soundtrack" - This is a cheapo, cheesy CD with the songs from the Rankin-Bass version of the story of Rudolph (with which I am obsessed).  There are really only one or two that are actually recordings from the TV soundtrack - most are covers - but since I like the show and the songs so much, I enjoy this one.

5.  Just in Time for Christmas - Nancy LaMott.  We saw Nancy LaMott in concert a couple of years before her untimely death, and it was great, so when I saw this, buying it was a no-brainer!  It's definitely a good one.

6.  A Christmas Album - James Taylor.  What can I say?  I'd listen to him sing a grocery list.  His version of "In the Bleak Midwinter" is one of my favorites of all time.

7.  The Christmas Album - Libera.  We have several CDs by this choral group of young boys, and the sound is so clear and beautiful, I was excited to see they had a Christmas album.  It's all good, but their addition and cover of Billy Joel's "Lullabye (Goodnight My Angel)" is truly stunning.

8.  Christmas Classics - I think we have several versions of these CDs, with mixes of old standards performed by Frank Sinatra, Rosemary Clooney, Dean Martin - you get the drift.  It's not Christmastime to me without them.

9.  Christmas  - Michael Buble.   I like this because it is evocative to me of the old-time Christmas albums that my parents had.

10.  Christmas Songs - Diana Krall.  I love listening to her, and love Christmas music - you do the math! 

Happy listening and singing along!