As Christmas draws near, have you ever thought about all the
traditions associated with the holidays?
As Christmas draws near, have you ever thought about all the traditions associated with the holidays?
Of course there are the standards: Greeting cards, Santa and his reindeer, baking holiday cookies, church with the family on Christmas Eve, gifts under the tree, snowmen and Christmas carols.
In Morgan Hill, we are blessed with some pretty extraordinary holiday traditions like parades and a Santa who travels throughout the town aboard his Magic Ship, visiting children and waving at all from his perch atop his moving vessel. When I was a little girl in Colorado, one of our downtown “dime stores” created a wondrous event at holiday time.
(And where, you might ask, have all the dime stores gone? Perhaps they’ve morphed into Wal-Marts, Targets, and Kmarts: five-and-dimes on steroids.)
Each December a basement storeroom of J.J. Newberry’s was converted into Santa’s workshop. To reach this magic Toyland, we followed little red hoof prints – proof that reindeer had been there – that began at the door, winded through the aisles and down the stairs, coming at last to the entry of a Christmas wonderland.
We stared in awe at what was inside. Stacked seemingly to the rooftop were games, trains, dolls, bicycles and just about any other plaything a child’s heart could desire.
Holding court behind a candy cane fence was Santa with his glorious beard and red velvet suit.
Timidly we allowed ourselves to be hoisted onto his lap where, with a heady mixture of anticipation and unadulterated terror, we whispered into his waiting ear our greatest toy wishes.
Commemorating this grand event, our photos were snapped by one of Santa’s elves and given to our moms who placed the black and white image on the mantel or a shelf in the living room.
One thing I’ve learned about Christmas traditions is that none of them is written in stone and can change abruptly without notice.
For example: a long-held tradition at our house was that my husband put up the tree and trimmed it in lights. I added the decorations.
My engineer husband spaced the miniature colored lights beautifully and evenly throughout the tree.
But since he located them near the front of the branches, I encountered a challenge when hanging the ornaments.
One year I attempted one tiny suggestion.
“Don’t you think the lights would look a little more natural if they were placed toward the INSIDE of the tree?” I queried pleasantly?
“What’s ‘natural’ about lights on a tree?” he retorted. “When’s the last time you walked in a forest and the trees had lights on them?”
Well, picky-picky.
Since the fine print in our marriage contract states, “You nix it, you fix it,” a new tradition was born, and I probably don’t have to tell you who puts the lights on the Christmas tree these days.
This year I pulled out the miniature lights to find they had inexplicably journeyed into a bundle the approximate size of a beach ball. Cheerfully, I spent roughly three seconds untangling miles of electrical cord before heaving the whole mess in the general direction of the tree.
From there I twisted and pushed and pulled and cajoled the lights, widening their girth upon the tree with such contorted traction and force that I now wait in dread for the whole tree to whip upward – sproing – like an unhinged umbrella.
Which reminds me that I probably need another eggnog. Or three.
So whatever your treasured traditions this holiday season, allow me to remember one more by wishing you and yours Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and a Healthy and Happy New Year.
Gale Hammond is a 22-year Morgan Hill resident. Reach her at Ga*********@*ol.com.
