It certainly was a treat to have a “near-normal” Christmas this year. I was able to enjoy it in person with Elizabeth and her family, and remotely with Sara’s family in Colorado and John’s in China. One of the things that continues to link us together is the body of holiday traditions we practice.
One tradition that we share with nearly one else whom we know is the exchange of Christmas cookies. My favorite continues to be the simple decorated sugar cookies shaped like Christmas trees, Santas, and wreathes. When our children were small, my wife and my mother would spend a day preparing them – the sight of the dining room table covered with them was an annual highlight.
Edythe Klein was one of my mother’s very best friends; each year we looked forward to receiving special nut rolls from her. After she died we obtained her recipe and have incorporated it into our own tradition. My wife enhanced it a little and both Sara and Elizabeth have perfected it even more. Immediately after opening stockings on Christmas morning, one must partake of Edythe Klein’s nut rolls.
Stockings of course are mandatory, even when Christmas is celebrated in unfamiliar surroundings. At home, we strung a wire between a pair of hooks screwed into the bottom on the mantel and hung the stockings from them. We celebrated the holidays several years in strange places – Vail, Colorado, one year and Truckee, California, another. Each time we had to improvise a hanging system.
When my brother and I were young our parents improvised long woolen hunting stockings with our names embroidered into them. They were out of style by the time our children were born, so they ended up with purchased stockings, very stylish but quite limited in their ability to hold a large quantity of small gifts.
One year we visited friends who had begun a collection of windup toys. Shortly thereafter I found three neat ones at Grace’s store on Bower Hill Road – a bear with marimbas, a Panda with a snare drum, and a monkey with cymbals. They were a big hit and have been supplemented down through the years with a wide variety of similar toys, currently been distributed to the next generation.
If the holiday hadn’t already existed, Lionel certainly would have invented it as an excuse to market electric trains. I got mine in 1937 – locomotive 365, tender, orange side-dump car, lumber car, and caboose. It still runs, or at least did three or four years ago when I last got it out. Early in our marriage my wife found another Lionel of the same vintage – this time a passenger train – and bought it for me.
We then inherited a more modern train from her sister and eventually put together a layout with three tracks surrounding our tree at one end of our living room. A big thrill having all three trains running concurrently. In addition, each of our children had Marx trains that occasionally were permitted to be run on the main line. This tradition has been carried on to the grandchildren, as each family has an impressive layout.
I’m sure every family has its own set of treasured Christmas tree ornaments. When we were first married, we bought a set of wooden cutouts that my wife painted; I get a warm feeling every time I see one. She also produced a number of clever ornaments of different designs – I suspect my favorites are the wine bottle corks magically transformed into Santas. In later years unpacking the ornaments and remembering when each one was acquired was an emotional nostalgic experience.
I have declined to the point where hanging a wreath on my front door and a be-ribboned swag on the lamp post in the front yard is the extent of my external decorating. Our house, a traditional stone colonial, is easily the most attractive one in our neighborhood. Years ago, we would hang wreathes on the three second-floor windows and one on the front door, then put out three spotlights to light up the entire front of the house. This provided a warm, elegant look that I preferred to all the tacky strings of lights on our neighbors’ houses.
House to house caroling was a wonderful tradition that appears to have declined, probably as a consequence of the decline in active church involvement. Another tradition I miss is the Salvation Army street band that used to play in Mellon Square downtown. I wonder if there are any records of Salvation Army street bands playing Christmas carols?
It is interesting to realize that our family holiday traditions are woven into the fabric of a society-wide body of traditions all focused on the concept of hope – regardless of how bad things have been this year, there are better days ahead. From the first Druid astronomer who recognized the significance of the winter solstice to the most devout Christian theologian who observed the birth of the Son of God, and by all of us in between, the Christmas season is celebrated as a time of renewal.
In this spirit. filled with hope for the future, I have tossed the 2021 calendar into the waste basket and opened up 2022. Time to start filling in the days. Let’s see – the 5th and 19th are reserved for brunch with my high school gang at Bob Evans. On the 6th I must meet John Sebastian for lunch so I can help him plan Senior Design for the next term. Saturday the 8th is the Civil War program at the Carnegie Library in Carnegie. Sunday the 30th is a Historical Society meeting. It does indeed appear that 2022 is off to a promising start for me.