TEN IDEAS FOR FAMILY HOLIDAY TRADITIONS By BC Deeks, Paranormal Mystery Fiction Author

 

 

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The holidays are just around the corner, and it’s got me thinking about family and traditions. Growing up, we had all kinds of rituals around this time of year. We decorated our tree on Christmas Eve and took it down on ‘Old Christmas Day’, or January 6^th, every year. We were allowed to open one gift on Christmas Eve so that we would go to bed without a fuss while ‘Santa’ made final preparations for the Big Day. We were always given a new pair of pajamas, so that we looked particularly cute for the annual family photo in front of the fireplace.

Our Christmas dinner always included the same items... turkey, of course, stuffed with my grandfather’s dressing made with Newfoundland summer savory... and English style trifle for dessert. Mom also made a dark fruit pudding that only the adult ate because it had a rum sauce that was liberally poured over the top.

As I hit my teens, some of the family traditions were a bit irritating, like having to be home on Christmas Eve for that family photo, when I really wanted to be out with my friends. But by the time I was an adult, I found myself replicating those traditions in my own home. I’m a domestic disaster in the kitchen when it comes to cooking, but I make our cranberry sauce from scratch and the trifle for the annual Christmas dinner.

Here are TEN IDEAS FOR FAMILY TRADITIONS that you could add to your seasonal celebration.

1. Get in your cozy pajamas with a cup of hot chocolate and READ The Night Before Christmas out loud on Christmas Eve.
2. Download a Christmas audiobook to listen to over the holidays.
3. Surprise your best friend or family member with a new book in their stocking. My mother put a romantic mystery paperback in my stocking every year to encourage me to read!
4. Get the family together to play “I spy” with the ornaments on your tree. Do you remember  where the ornament came from? Is it one from your childhood? A family heirloom?
5. Gift your child an ornament every year. Make it a memento of a big moment or achievement from the last year.
6. Prepare a special meal for Christmas Eve, like a fondu.
7. Give each family member a book on Christmas Eve and spend the rest of the night reading curled up in a comfy chair.
8. Pick a special holiday-themed movie to watch together as a family on Christmas Day.
9. Find a holiday craft to do together on the lead-up to the holidays, like making cookies or ornaments.
10. Look for an opportunity to volunteer together or provide some other type of community service, like a gift donation as a family, during the holiday season.

Traditions signify the continuity of life from one generation to the next. They bring with them the warmth of family, even when you can’t be together during those special times of the year. The best thing about traditions is that it’s never too late to start a new one. Do you have any holiday traditions that are passed down through your family?

A Regency Christmas by A.M. Westerling

 First off, I would like to wish all our American friends a Happy Thanksgiving! Hope everyone is enjoying a wonderful turkey dinner with loved ones with perhaps a dish of NFL football on the side. 

And what comes after Thanksgiving? Christmas! During the Regency era, Christmas was referred to as Christmastide. It spanned the period from Christmas Eve to January 6, or Twelfth Night, which marked the official end of Christmastide.

On Christmas Eve, families brought greenery indoors, but not before then as it was considered bad luck. Traditional decorations included holly, rosemary, bay, laurel and mistletoe. Evergreens were considered either symbols of eternal life or fertility symbols. Also brought in was the Yule log. It was kept burning as long as possible, at least to the end of Christmas Day and perhaps even until Twelfth Night. Splinters were set aside and used to light the log the following year.

The decorations were taken down and burned once Twelfth Night was over as leaving them up past that date might bring bad luck. Even today, some people take down their decorations before January 6. We do that although I never knew that was the reason!

Christmas Day was a national holiday. It was mostly a religious festival and included charity to the poor. Gifts weren’t usually exchanged although small gifts might be given to children. People went to church and returned home for a splendid Christmas dinner with friends.  Personally, I love decorating the dinner table for Christmas dinner. (As an aside, Christmas trees did not become popular until later in the 19th century so were not part of the Regency era.)

Usually a goose or turkey was served, or for the gentry, venison. Another popular dish was boar’s head, a kid of potted meat dish. This was followed by plum pudding, so called because one of the main ingredients were plums or prunes. These puddings were doused with brandy and set aflame, a key entertainment of the season.

Food played an important part throughout the season as there were a lot of parties and dishes that could be prepared ahead of time and served cold were popular. The wassail bowl was a common drink. Similar to punch, or mulled wine, it was prepared from spiced and sweetened wine or brandy. Apples garnished the bowl from which it was served. Mince meat pies, made from dried fruit, chopped meat, sugar and spices, were also considered staples of a Christmas feast.

St. Stephen’s Day, the day after Christmas, was a day for charity. The gentry gave their servants “Christmas Boxes” which might contain food, old clothing and other castoff items. Often, the staff would be given the day off. Churches collected money and distributed it to those in need. This is how the term “Boxing Day” originated. Also, this was a traditional day for fox hunting and the start of festivities for the remainder of Christmastide.

From the ceiling hung kissing balls and boughs made from twigs, greenery and decorated with seasonal fruit such as apples and of course, mistle toe. No lady could refuse a kiss beneath these. A mistletoe berry was picked for every stolen kiss and once the berries were gone, the practice was over. During the Regency, Christmas carols weren’t popular other than hymns sung in church.

Twelfth Night signaled the end of the season and was marked by another party. Activities during these parties included games such as hoodman blind, hot cockles, snap dragon and bob apple as well as more drinking, eating and dancing. Sugared cakes were part of Twelfth Night and these were the precursor to today’s Christmas cake. Traditionally a slice was given to all household members.  

Sadly, this extended Christmas season came to an end shortly after the Regency period due to the disappearance of the rural way of life and also the Industrial Revolution and the need for workers to continue working through out that season.

It seems only proper to give the closing words to Jane Austen: “I wish you a cheerful and at times even a Merry Christmas”.

*****

You might enjoy my Regency era Christmas novella, Evelyn's Beau:

 As a favour to the local vicar, Lady Evelyn Kendall agrees to organize a Christmas pageant involving disadvantaged children, never realizing it would lead to disaster for both her and Lord Oliver Harrington, the man she loves. 

The ebook is available at your favourite online store HERE. A print version would make an ideal gift! Available on Amazon in both the United States and Canada. 

Find all my books on the BWL Publishing website HERE.