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CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS
by Sherri Ellerman

It was the Christmas of 1984, and I was fifteen years old. As memories of the past fourteen Christmas mornings hung over the room like a thick blanket, we went through the motions of our first Christmas without my mother. Not only was she gone, but with her were the traditions that she had carried on year after year, and that we had come to expect – waking up to the aroma of a turkey that had cooked half the night, opening our gifts on Christmas Eve and waking to Santa’s surprises the next morning, and sitting and listening to stories of my mother’s childhood Christmas memories. Looking back now I realize how hard it must have been for my father to prepare Christmas for my twin sister and me without the help of my mother, but that morning I missed the little things. I longed for the familiar traditions that were more a part of Christmas than all of the gifts under the tree.

Now, married with a precious family of my own, I have watched as the traditions that I grew up with have become a part of my own children’s lives. Some of them conflicted with my husband’s own traditions, and we have found ways to combine them to make new ones. Though every part of me wanted to cling to the things that I grew up doing, I knew that it was important for my husband to also experience traditions from his childhood.

As I cling to my past and weave it into our lives now, I also enjoy making new traditions with my three children. They love them and have come to expect them each year. We love to watch Frosty the Snowman together while snuggled on the couch with a blanket. We even have a special snack that we cook together to eat while it is on. Each Christmas we make a new set of ornaments to hang on our tree and write the children’s names and the year on them. We then wrap one from each child for each set of grandparents as a gift to them. We bake cookies and "reindeer food" and always eat biscuits and white gravy on Christmas morning. The children pick out their favorite wrapping paper for all of their gifts to be wrapped in. When it comes time to open the gifts, it is easy for them to pick out which ones belong to them.

These traditions do not have to be written down for us to remember them. As Christmas approaches, they just happen. They are the things that make Christmas special for us. When my children are grown, they will not differentiate the traditions I brought from my childhood from those that we made. They will all be the same to them and, hopefully, they will make them a part of the lives that they will share with their families.

I have missed my mother every Christmas after that first one without her, but as we continue the traditions that she started, I feel that I have a part of her with us. The many Christmas toys that my children have received throughout the years will one day be put away or gone, but the traditions will always be a part of them. Whether they choose to let them remain happy memories or repeat them each year, these traditions will be a bridge to their childhood, a way that they can always return.