Schph Gochi
Message Board Member
"traveling through hyperspace ain't like dustin' crops boy"
Posts: 9,278
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Post by Schph Gochi on Dec 24, 2006 9:48:06 GMT -5
There are quite a few "Merry Christmas" Threads...but this one is different....
a place to share deep rooted Christmas traditions...
Here is mine.
Every year on Christmas my siblings and I always got an orange in our Christmas stocking. Why an orange? Hardly a thing that dreams are made of.
It was actually the lowly orange that made me realize there was no Santa Claus.
First the tradition:
I asked my mom why we always got an orange and she explained that this was something passed on from her mother. Even when my mom was a little girl in the mid 1920's, I am sure it was probably pretty expensive to have fresh citrus in the middle of winter. And this tradition was from her mom. I am sure when Grandma was a little girl in the late 1800's....a piece of citrus in the middle of winter on the Illinois prairie was even more rare and precious. So, indeed, an orange is a marvelous thing to receive!
And....how the orange help me figure out there was no Santa? As noted...we ALWAYS got an orange in our stockings. One year, there was no oranges in the house right before Christmas. Our fruit was usually kept in an unheated area of the porch that we passed as we came home from school.
Then, on Christmas eve that year....the bag of oranges appeared...and there in our stockings was an orange...
2 + 2 = 4.....lol....
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Cronto Tocrone
Message Board Member
The Darkside leads to your own destruction
Posts: 444
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Post by Cronto Tocrone on Dec 24, 2006 10:05:19 GMT -5
lets see my tradition is pretty much we always go to my Grandmas house and celebrate Christmas there on Christmas eve, and then on Christmas day we have to what until everyone is up to open gifts
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Post by Leda EmBorr on Dec 24, 2006 10:58:50 GMT -5
That's great Schph--- an orange.... go figure! lol  One tradition that has formed in my own family began with my husband's family. Olivier grew up living on the grounds of a convent/school for young Catholic nuns--- his dad was the head maintenance guy there, and they were given a small house on the property as part of the pay for the job. They were immigrants to the U.S. So we go to church on Christmas eve at the cathedral there--- it's a beautiful mass and the choir is heavenly! lol. It's neat to see all these young teenage girls wearing habits... kinda cute. (One year, back when he still lived there, we saw a bunch of them sledding on the hill in the black and white outfits--- something you don't see every day!) We used to go with the whole family and then come home to have Christmas soup and do a small gift exchange, but his family is scattered around the country now, so Oli and I and the kids are the only ones left here who still go. I still make the soup, too--- a hearty bean soup with chicken. |
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Post by Cara Drume on Dec 24, 2006 12:34:24 GMT -5
Usually in our stockings we not only got an orange, but an apple, a candy cane, and a handful of mixed nuts. Dad said that tradition was started by his family. For us, that was the only time we got any kind of nuts except peanuts, so it was special for us. Mom has also made German Stolen for breakfast either for Christmas or New Years'. So with the fruit and the nuts, we got breakfast in our stockings! Once in a while, but not often, we'd get Christmas cookies, candy, or even a small toy. But if nothing else, we'd always get the full stockings and a candy cane.
Then, after everyone was up, dad would read the Christmas story from the Bible to remind us why we were celebrating in the first place. THEN we could open our presents.
I don't know what we're doing this year. At least we've made some German Christmas cookies called Pfeffernuse (we've got a lot of German, French, and English roots) and we do have the stuff for Christmas dinner.
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Post by Kryy Jacobi on Dec 24, 2006 13:14:17 GMT -5
Yes, we did the stocking with the orange -- I'm getting all nostalgic here -- and the candy cane and nuts. Plus we had the little mesh bag of chocolate money, which I think was really for Hanukkah. (We lived near a synagogue.)
So it's interesting how the same traditions show up in different places! We didn't move here from anywhere else -- been here in the Atlanta vicinity since the mid-1800's. (OK, no jokes about age -- I said "we" not "me"...)
Christmas blessings, everyone!
Kryy :-)
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Post by Cara Drume on Dec 24, 2006 13:20:08 GMT -5
Oh I remember the chocolate coins! I saw some at the dollar store a while back...yeesh. I remember when they were 25 cents...
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Post by I Five on Dec 24, 2006 14:59:04 GMT -5
This is a great thread...thanks for starting it Schph. I loved your Orange story!! My family doesn't really have any traditions, we just all get together and hang out. When we were kids we'd go to my aunts. My dad would always 'forget' something at home and have to run back to get it. When my family would leave my aunts at the end of the night and get back home santa would have already been there...hmmm!!! Santa is so sneaky!
Merry Christmas!
BTW...what do you mean there is no santa Schph ;D
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Post by Koda Vonnor on Dec 25, 2006 14:05:02 GMT -5
My brother has played the same trick on his kids for almost ten years. He takes the family to Christmas eve services at his church, leaving the house with only the tree in the family room.
He then drops them off at the door to the church and tells them he needs to go park the car, which is plausible because the service is always crowded. He instead drives back home and sets up all the presents under the tree which he had previously stashed in a secret room in the back of his workshop (a room he designed and built for such occasions when he finished his basement). Then he drives back to church and stands in the back, as by then all the seats are taken.
Last year, his older daughter hinted that she knows his scam, but that she won't tell her little sister. His secret is safe with her. He still played dumb and insisted it was really santa that setup all the presents.
So to renew his kids' faith in santa, this year while they were at church it was me who put out the presents. I built an elaborate pyramid out of the boxes and placed a small note on the very top, written in an uncommon script font and printed on antiqued parchment paper, rolled up and sealed with red wax. Here's what it said: (contains roman catholic phraseology)
To Emily, Sylvia, Amanda, Michael, and Artemis,
Sometimes we forget how wonderfully magical Christmas is.
Yes, I am still here. I have not existed in body for over fifteen hundred years,
but by the blessing and grace of God, whose coming to live among men
is celebrated this very evening, I have been allowed to continue doing
the thing that I love. Whether you believe or disbelieve,
it doesn't make this sack any lighter. ;-)
Never stop believing, and never forget that through
Almighty God, all things are possible.
May God bless you all, and may you always be happy.
~Nicholas of Myra
Anno Domini MMVI
...what's even cooler, is that I was "in Ohio visiting my other brother" and supposedly only got back in town around 11pm last night, 3 hours after this 'miracle' took place. And yes, my other brother was in on the scam. ;D
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Post by Jedimom/Cor-Al Gelkar on Dec 25, 2006 17:45:03 GMT -5
That's really neat Koda! What a great thing!
We don't have any massively great traditions. Just the usual. Make cookies Christmas eve (even if they are just Pillsbury), read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" and of course, Luke 2 from the Bible. We usually open one present Christmas Eve, just to tide us over. And watch all the holiday specials we can! Toothbrush in the stockings along with candy anes evey year.
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Post by Qui-Kel Jinn on Dec 25, 2006 20:41:32 GMT -5
Well This Year Was A Little Different For Me, Started A New Tradition. As Many Of You May Or May Not Know, Before i Got Into This group, I was not a very nice person, alot of drugs alcohol and other problems, but through meeting people like master tanthos, i have become a completely newperson,so i think the way christmas went this year is what i would like every year to be!!!!! My Local Group Of Jedi got Together and Jade Starlighter's house and had a small dinner and exchanged a few gifts, and just had a great fellowship. I KNow it may sound simple and not very much, but it really did make my christmas this year. Being with a group of true friends just makes you remember what the reason for the season is....And To show My appreciation for master tanthos i gave him a ticket to c4 as his christmas gift. And That is my tradition i would like to keep alive!!!!
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Post by Jedimom/Cor-Al Gelkar on Dec 25, 2006 20:52:38 GMT -5
That's great Qui-Kel! A lot of Christmas stories are about change of heart. And friendship. Those two things together can change the world!
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Post by I Five on Dec 25, 2006 21:37:17 GMT -5
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Post by Cara Drume on Dec 25, 2006 21:58:42 GMT -5
Wow, Koda, that's great!
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Post by J'aii-Gun Jiinn on Dec 25, 2006 23:37:10 GMT -5
We have one- My Mom's Brown sugered bacon Baked beans- 8lbls of beans,2lbls of bacon,4 cups of brown sugar,24 oz of ketchup-bake for 21/2 hours-YUM!!! served every year without fail
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Schph Gochi
Message Board Member
"traveling through hyperspace ain't like dustin' crops boy"
Posts: 9,278
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Post by Schph Gochi on Dec 26, 2006 5:24:11 GMT -5
Interesting how the orange has showed up...
and
very good of you Qui-Kel...what an awesome Christmas gift...
Old traditions are great....and it is also great to start new ones....
keep some of the past alive
...but look ahead to the future....
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