Pass It On
Sharing Holiday Traditions Through Generations
I’ve always been fascinated by the traditions of others.
Other cultures, other religions, other families. I think it’s cool to see what other people choose to do to celebrate things like the holidays and how they differ or are similar to the traditions my family had growing up. I also wonder, how many of these holiday traditions do people carry on into adulthood as they grow older and start families of their own?
So this week, I’ve asked a couple of friends who recently had their first babies to share with me the family traditions they remember from childhood and if they plan on handing those same traditions down to the next generation!
First up, my girl Katy just had a baby boy at the end of September, (which is almost 3 months ago already and holy shit, I don’t even have a kid and I feel old at how quickly time goes by when they exist,) and her traditions are all about that family togetherness!
"The biggest tradition amongst my family during the holidays is the post dinner card game. As far back as I can remember we always, without fail, will play 31. 31 is a simple card game played with a normal deck of cards. Each player is dealt three cards and the goal is to either get a total of 31 with the same suit or get as close as you can. At the end of a round, the player with the lowest score loses. To make it more of a competition, we all throw in a buck and the winner gets the money. In recent years, we’ve upped it to $5 to make things more exciting as there is usually seven of us playing. Playing a post dinner game is something I will most definitely continue for holidays. It brings us all back to the table for fun and friendly competition. A lot of my favorite holiday memories come from playing games after holiday dinners. It’s something I think we all really look forward to.
Another odd tradition my family has is breaking and eating Opłatki (pronounced “plut-key”) before dinner. Opłatki is also known as a Christmas wafer. It’s basically just wheat flour and water making it very bland and comparable to styrofoam. Christmas wafer is a famous Polish Catholic tradition that’s celebrated mostly in Poland, but also parts of Lithuania where my great grandparents are from. This tradition started with them and it’s something we’ve continued even after the death of my grandfather in 2007 and despite none of us truly being catholic anymore. I think we do it for the memory of my grandfather.”
I had never heard of Opłatki before Katy mentioned it but aren’t they pretty looking? They’re a lot cooler looking than the Eucharist I remember taking the handful of times I ever went to church….but it does sound like they’re just as gross. But I love the idea of splitting and sharing it with the family, kind of reminds me of breaking the wishbone at Thanksgiving. I also love that card games play such a big part in her memories from childhood and through to now. Card games were always a big after dinner thing for my family on Christmas day (don’t fuck with my Pops when it comes to Uno, ya’ll) so it’s cool to see which which game her family goes hard with for the holiday!
The second new mama is one of my oldest friends in the world, Laura. She had her baby girl in mid-October and, as you can see, has already gone hard on the themed pictures. Her traditions vary but in the end…it all comes down to the decor!
“With 2020 being the year of chaos and havoc, my husband and I were blessed to welcome a beautiful baby girl into our lives. And with Christmas upon us, and tons of free time thanks to maternity leave, I’ve been trying to figure out how I want my daughter to experience the holiday season.
Growing up, it was a tradition to start celebrating Christmas the day after Thanksgiving in our household. If it were up to my mom, she would have started the day after Halloween. It was always my job to set up the most hideous inflatable decorations in the front yard. The daunting task I had no choice in. I hated these over the top decorations, but it was Christmas after all. The season of giving. So it was the least I could do for my mom.
Christmas Eve was spent at home, baking cookies for Santa with holidays songs blaring through the house or watching an array of Christmas movies. Christmas Day was spent traveling to visit my cousins, who we really only saw that time of year. We would do a family secret Santa, and there were always plenty of gag gifts to keep things interesting. I loved this time of year to see family I never really got to see. So many memories of this time have stuck with me through all the years.
Although, this year may look a lot different, I plan to pass down the love of the holidays to my daughter. A time to spend with friends and family, and celebrate the love for one another. And of course, a time to embarrass her with a yard filled with gaudy Christmas decorations (a variety of light up animals in Santa outfits) It’s a family tradition after all!”
If there’s one thing I know about Laura’s mom, it’s that she loved Christmas so much she put the two of them in mother daughter matching jumper dresses with Christmas turtlenecks and that is a tradition I HOPE gets passed along to Laura’s daughter (and don’t think I won’t be the one to usher that along with matching outfit gifts in the next couple of years.)
And with that, I want to send a huge thank you to my girls, Katy and Laura, for sharing their childhood holiday traditions with me and my readers! Which means, now it’s your turn!
What are some of the holiday traditions you remember from childhood? Have you passed them on to your kids? Or maybe you have some traditions you HATED and couldn’t wait to stop doing when you got older…I wanna hear about those too! Fill up those comments with some holiday cheer!