Christmas Traditions

Growing up Christmas was a big deal. Not as much for presents, although we got presents and we usually got what we wanted. Every year the JC Penney Christmas catalogue came out. My sister and my self would spend hours going through it and circling the things we wanted for Christmas.

Most of the pages we spent our time in were in the toy section. Sometimes we may venture over into the electronics section if we wanted a stereo system with an 8-track player.

Man, I am old. A lot of you have never experienced an 8 track player, much less a JC Penney Christmas catalogue.

But here is where we’re alike, there was not much time spent in the clothes section of the JC Penney catalogue, unless it was a jersey of my favorite team.

That was not the thing I remember most about Christmas. Of course I remember some of the toys I got, but I will never forget the family time together. At the time there were some things I hated, but would relive in a heartbeat if I could, like stringing pop corn and cranberries to decorate the tree. Or sticking whole cloves in an orange changing its look and texture, it did smell good though. I know all these ideas came from mom’s Christmas edition of Southern Living magazine.

I loved the baking that was done--fudge, butter and pecan cookies, orange blossoms, peanut butter balls (in Ohio they call them buckeyes and they don’t cover the whole ball with chocolate), applesauce cake and other seasonal snacks that filled the pantry. I remember giving it to people as gifts. The great thing about giving baked items as gifts is you usually got some back—fudge, butter and pecan cookies, peanut butter balls . . .

I loved going to Aunt Jesse’s house for Christmas Eve dinner. Uncle Frank sitting in the same chair, Garth joking around with us kids, the kids table at dinner time and Jesse’s homemade rolls—you can’t forget the rolls. The kids table was fun and you never graduated from it. When some of the older cousins had graduated and were even in college—they still had a place at the kids table. None of us really cared though because we were at Jesse’s for Christmas Eve. I think it was at Jesse’s I ate 13 deviled eggs—a Baker’s dozen.

Then there was Christmas morning. Getting up at 8 am to see what you got from Santa—It was really more like 4 am for me, I had to test all the stuff before everyone else. I remember dad coming down and telling me I had to go back to bed because I was waking everyone up playing toss-a-cross, a bean bag game of tic-tac-toe.

When we all were finally up we would make toast from fresh cinnamon bread Delores Crouch made for us every year. She was one of the few adult friends mom and dad had that I could call by their first name. That toast was soooo good.

Then came breakfast or brunch, it wasn’t much but it seem to never end. It consisted of ham biscuits. Virginia salt cured ham on what I would call more of a roll with butter wrapped in foil and baked until the butter had melted. Uncle Bill usually made it over by the time we were eating ham biscuits to check out the stuff we got and just hang out for the day.

Sometime during the day Lewis Barker, my best friend who lived across the street would come over to see what I got. Then I would go over to his house to see the stuff he got.

The greatest thing about Christmas was hanging out with family and friends. That is what I remember most. I do remember the food, but with food came family and friends something that makes the Christmas season Christmas.

We get to celebrate the birth of a relational God who brings people together. So when you are with friends and family over this holiday season remember it is just part of God’s plan to bring people together not just to celebrate Jesus but to enjoy the company of each other.

Merry Christmas!