Christmas Eve service at church (pre-pandemic), the whole family over Christmas Day, and then for many years, when we lived in Albuquerque, my wife and I had a huge, anyone can come over, charades party. Everyone brought food and drink, and we were part of a big acting.singing community so the charades were amazing!
The one Christmas tradition that my two brothers and I continue to this day is to cook up (separately, given that we live in different parts of the country) a (sort of) traditional seafood Italian dinner, complete with antipasto. After our parents divorced and our dad died, our Jewish mom (who was the only one in the family who learned my Italian grandmother's secret recipes) continued the tradition. It was about the only thing that actually kept our family from completely falling apart. Oh, yes. And cookies: lots of them, especially chocolate chip. Other traditions developed (especially during those post divorce/death years), such as adorning the Christmas tree with a hand-made (by a friend) model of King Kong on top of the Empire State Building fighting off the jets while holding onto Ann Darrow. King Kong has since retired to Skull Island. Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and Holiday Season Jan! ❤️🙏🕉
Jan....Thank you for sharing your Christmas traditions with us......it really stirred several Christmas memories. One seems a bit corny.....but this is the first that jumped out......my mom use to take my two brothers and me bowling each Christmas Eve, doing it for several years. I'm not sure how it started, but looking back brings very fond memories. I remember many times thinking how special my mom was for doing this for us, as we were driving home from the bowling alley.
BTW: My mom was not a bowler. She had the three of us boys signed up for years on a Saturday morning bowling league for children........think it gave her a breather from watching over three very active boys.
Christmas Eve service at church (pre-pandemic), the whole family over Christmas Day, and then for many years, when we lived in Albuquerque, my wife and I had a huge, anyone can come over, charades party. Everyone brought food and drink, and we were part of a big acting.singing community so the charades were amazing!
The one Christmas tradition that my two brothers and I continue to this day is to cook up (separately, given that we live in different parts of the country) a (sort of) traditional seafood Italian dinner, complete with antipasto. After our parents divorced and our dad died, our Jewish mom (who was the only one in the family who learned my Italian grandmother's secret recipes) continued the tradition. It was about the only thing that actually kept our family from completely falling apart. Oh, yes. And cookies: lots of them, especially chocolate chip. Other traditions developed (especially during those post divorce/death years), such as adorning the Christmas tree with a hand-made (by a friend) model of King Kong on top of the Empire State Building fighting off the jets while holding onto Ann Darrow. King Kong has since retired to Skull Island. Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and Holiday Season Jan! ❤️🙏🕉
Jan....Thank you for sharing your Christmas traditions with us......it really stirred several Christmas memories. One seems a bit corny.....but this is the first that jumped out......my mom use to take my two brothers and me bowling each Christmas Eve, doing it for several years. I'm not sure how it started, but looking back brings very fond memories. I remember many times thinking how special my mom was for doing this for us, as we were driving home from the bowling alley.
BTW: My mom was not a bowler. She had the three of us boys signed up for years on a Saturday morning bowling league for children........think it gave her a breather from watching over three very active boys.
Several other memories deal with FOOD! Yum!