The other day I was kind of gripping about the holiday season and complaining to my mom about how I didn’t like it (mostly because of the way it is so materialistic in America). So I was trying to think about what I missed when I was in Kazakhstan and the things that do make me happy on the holidays. When I started to think about it I realized that while some of my favorite things are traditional, many others are not your typical holiday activities or traditions. So here they are, in no particular order:
Family: My family’s Christmas tradition is to spend Christmas Eve at my mother’s parents (now just my grandma since my grandfather passed away) and then Christmas morning at my father’s parents. My mom’s family is pretty large. My grandparents had six children, three boys and three girls, almost all of which had their own children (and some of their children now have children). Besides this large amount of children (and grandchildren), my great-grandmother was also continuing to have children when my grandmother was. Therefore some of my great aunts are actually younger than my mother. This means that my mother’s side of the family is huge. We always gather at my grandmother’s house and it usually ends up being about fifty people (some people aren’t able to make it). The reason this is so important to me is because I don’t get to see a lot of these relatives on a regular basis. A lot of my mom’s family lives on the east side of the state and we rarely get over to the area. In many cases this is the only time of the year that I actually see some of my cousins, aunts, and uncles.
Croissants on Christmas Morning: My dad is a pretty good cook. Unfortunately he doesn’t cook that often and during my childhood my mom took over most of the cooking responsibilities. But one time that he always cooks is on Christmas morning. After we are done opening gifts, my dad always makes omelets with cheese, mushrooms, and eggs and puts them in croissants. It is by far one of my favorite holidays meals. It’s not traditional or anything, but it’s something we always do.
The Toy Santa Claus: My grandpa used to dress up as Santa Claus every Christmas and visit the neighborhood kids. He never accepted payment, but families often gave him Santa themed gifts. He has a huge amount of Santa paraphernalia and one that he has had for years is this automated Santa that swings a bell up and down. Apparently as a child I was deathly afraid of this Santa and whenever he would get it out I would run away. I always love when he gets it out now and lets it run across the floor making it’s annoying bell sound. It makes me happy.
Great-Grandma’s Gifts: I don’t remember my great-grandmother at all. She died when I was very young and I have few memories of her. Apparently one of the things she liked to give to us kids was McDonalds gift certificates. I am not a big fan of McDonalds (don’t get me wrong I love their food, but I know my body doesn’t love it) but I always love seeing these tucked into branches of our tree on Christmas morning.
Black Olives in my Stocking: My mother grew up in a poor family. My grandfather had trouble finding work and they had to support six kids (typical catholic family). My grandmother ended up working a lot, but they still had trouble getting by. I have always heard stories about how my mother got hand me downs and how they made their own clothes. I was told about how the boys would drink all the milk and they wouldn’t have anymore, and how my mom’s family got welfare cheese and flour. One story that I especially remember is about Christmas. When my mother was young one of the presents she always got was oranges and fruit in her stocking. As a child I always thought that was strange. Why is fruit special? It wasn’t until I was older that I realized that back then fruit was expensive and my mom’s family couldn’t afford it on a regular basis. It was a special treat for my mother. My parents never gave us fruit, but they do have the habit of giving my siblings’ and I cans of black olives. I guess I think of it along the same line as fruit, it’s a regular thing, but special. It always reminds me of the oranges.
Board Games: One of the traditions that we have on Christmas Eve is that a bunch of the cousins get together and play board games. I don’t remember exactly when this started, probably in our early teens. We started out with playing monopoly, and now we usually play various different games. Every year when I get excited for the holidays it’s not about the gifts and presents and things like that, it’s about playing board games with my cousins. It’s kind of dorky and weird, but I really enjoy it.
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