Christmas and holiday traditions

December 2024

This month we asked our Four Years At The Mount writers to reflect on their Christmas and holiday traditions in a way that allows readers to fully immerse themselves in each writer’s experience of the holidays.

How holidays happen

Cameron Madden
MSMU Class of 2028

We find ourselves in the kitchen, with plates stacked up containing remnants of gravy, bits of corn, and cranberry sauce someone couldn’t stomach this time around. Alone sits the person who was insisted upon to clean up the dishes for this Thanksgiving dinner. Let’s just say I am the one alone with the dishes, probably falling asleep from the food intake and revelry coming from a family get-together. As the last of the dishes finally begin to wrap up and I head upstairs quietly with intent to fall fast asleep, I catch glimpses of a changing time. Autumn turning to winter of course, but also something in the mood of those around me; all sleeping with a sort of relaxed mood, excited for the days to come despite no real change. As I drift off to sleep, and the cold finally begins to come in full effect, I feel nothing but warmth. The holiday season is here; Christmas is on the horizon and there is now nobody in my ear to tell me to wait until after Thanksgiving!

In the slow beginning days of December, animals begin to hibernate, the color of tree bark begins to blend and form a wall of gray and the leaves have disappeared. It feels perhaps lifeless. It’s funny though, in the transition from November to December there is green prevalent all around us. I certainly notice it in my own home, as the first couple days of the month involve my mother busting out the boxes of Christmas decorum she has been mulling over since last December. While I usually would be busy drowning in schoolwork, I instead am sat with my siblings, helping and conversing with one another over whether the lights should go here or there, or if the newest decoration my mother had bought can fit on the dining room table.

I come home to a lot more pastries and sweets than usual, filling the house with either a fresh smell of chocolate-chip cookies, or of fresh bread bought from the local bakery. It usually will be gobbled up in the span of a day, and with the sufficient supplies of eggnog and other warm beverages, it was an inadvertent but expected outcome. It’s always been funny, when younger plugging in the decoration lights and watching them light up the rooms of the house was a huge deal. We would turn off the main lights and gaze upon yellow string lights in wreaths or long strings of fake foliage. Always a week or two into the month, we would finally go and pick out a tree. We would usually go to the local fire station and sit by barrels of fire, eating candy canes as either my mom or dad would pick out a tree. They would hand out some cheap, but filling hot chocolate, which paired well with the aromas of peppermint and evergreen, and the feel of the cold air. As the month went on and the house gradually filled with more decorations—and of course, louder Christmas music—the spot of the tree would finally be picked out and set up.

After days of waiting for the tree to settle, the big box of old ornaments would be brought out, and we would all take turns putting whatever we wanted on the tree. There were a few specific to each person, making it all the more special. Some music or a holiday movie was put on as we did this, and the family has fun and laughs all the way through the process.

Throughout this time, we had some pretty normal traditions: like Christmas lists and visits to Santa Claus at the mall, eating candy canes the whole way to really cement peppermint as the flavor of the season. In the few days leading up to Christmas, I would be conflicted on which parent I would spend the first half of Christmas Day due to their split, but regardless of the unease, the principles and experiences were the close to the same: love, laughter, joy and connection. We would spend Christmas Eve excited with what usually turned out to be a big dinner, as we tend to have larger dinners on the Eve rather than on Christmas Day. Afterwards, my siblings and I would usually spend the rest of the night eager for the presents but, also in appreciation and revelation of the peace and love surrounding us. Partially due to the youngest sibling’s wishes, we would all sleep in one room. Overtime though, it just became the standard, and we would all find a space to sleep in my brother and I’s room.

On Christmas Day, my family partakes in traditions that may be similar to those of other people in the world. We awake in the cold morning to take a picture of all of the children, myself included, waiting to be let loose on the unsuspecting and innocent Christmas tree. Once the photo is snapped, it is off to the races to get to those presents! Coming from a family that did not have too much money to spend, gifts were either a collection of smaller items of varying expense or one big item with many lesser ones. All of which were usually determined by what was specified on a Christmas list, yet all were loved and cherished. From that point on, the same thing would repeat at the other parent’s house and the rest of the day would be spent with bonding over candies, presents, and probably a Charlie Brown movie. As I said before, a big dinner would usually be held on the day before, but dinner on Christmas would always be like a smaller Thanksgiving in terms of food like ham and turkey, mashed potatoes and such.

The next few days usually are quiet; we all relax with our gifts and take appreciation of the Christmas feel up until New Year’s Eve. Aside from the occasional party filled with plenty of snack/food platters, the most memorable tradition we carry out on New Years is banging wooden spoons on pots and pans, being an annoying neighbor by enjoying life in the easiest way: showing the love you hold, for and with, those closest to you through making noise and exerting laughter in a moment of complete togetherness.

Read other articles by Cameron Madden

Christmas Eve
  
Gracie Smith
MSMU Class of 2027

Christmas Eve is one of the most memorable nights for children around the world. As for my family, Christmas Eve is not only the most memorable night, but the most traditional. Since before I was born, my family would host a big Christmas Eve party. Everyone would gather at my grandparent’s house and celebrate the night before Christmas. There would be food and appetizers galore, drinks for everyone’s fancy, and sweets to satisfy even the pickiest eater. Let’s just say, no one ever left hungry. The house is filled with the brightest spirits, the warmest smiles, and the happiest of hearts.

This tradition goes as far back as my grandparents hosting Christmas Eve when my mother was little. My mother always says how she would watch Rudolf and other Christmas entertainment all day just to stay out of my grandmother’s way, and to attempt to make the time go by faster. Several years later when my mother had grown up, on Christmas Eve of 2003, my parents had announced their engagement; my father had proposed the day before so they could share in the excitement with their family. Little did everyone know that that was going to be one of the last Christmas Eve’s at my grandparent's house before my mother took over the tradition upon welcoming me into the world.

Christmas Eve of 2005, my first Christmas, and my parent’s first time hosting the infamous Christmas Eve party, with a baby nonetheless, was certainly one for the books. Despite my lack of attention to it all, I do believe it was a success; surely I would’ve heard otherwise by either my mother or grandmother. Christmas Eve of 2007 was my little brother’s first Christmas and our first Christmas in our newly built home. With tons of new space for decorations and food, my mother did not miss out on the opportunity to be festive.

Over the years my parents really began to hold our Christmas Eve tradition close to their hearts. So much so, that we have special dishes we use strictly on Christmas Eve. This might not sound so abnormal for some but I do find it amusing. The Christmas Eve plates are used one time a year and remain in our basement for the other 364 days of the year. However, my mom has been very particular about what she likes for Christmas Eve, it all has to be perfect. So much so, that one of my mother’s Christmas presents one year was a hotplate for some of the appetizers we have on Christmas Eve. Add that to the list of things that are seen once a year on Christmas Eve.

As my brother Jack and I grew older, we became easily more restless on Christmas Eve. Watching our parents run around the house cleaning and cooking, we learned quickly that it was best to stay out of the way; as my mother did when she was a child. Then, at 6 o’clock sharp our friends and family would arrive. As the night goes on, the more excited each of us gets.

I remember one year that my dad absolutely blew my mind. Since we do have picky eaters in our family, my parents always go to McDonald’s and get 40 nuggets for the kids. I have to admit, I was one of those picky eaters who ate McDonald’s on Christmas Eve and I was perfectly okay with that. However, a few years ago I caught my dad putting my mom’s homemade crab dip on a McDonald's nugget and he replied simply, "I made Chicken Chesapeake". He continues to enjoy his "Chicken Chesapeake" every Christmas Eve now.

Another more recent story of Christmas Eve takes place in 2019. My cousin Sabrina, a United States Marine, was not supposed to be home for Christmas. That year, my aunt, uncle, and cousin joined us for Christmas Eve. My mother, continuing to work her Christmas magic, was able to help Sabrina surprise her family and be home for Christmas. That year we actually had our biggest turnout, that is, before COVID-19 hit in 2020.

Christmas Eve of 2020 was certainly very different. The only people in attendance were my family of 4, my grandparents, and my uncle’s family from my mom’s side. Instead of mingling with people we didn’t have the opportunity to see very often, we played Christmas games. Off the top of my head, the only two I remember playing are Christmas charades and Christmas trivia. Despite not having nearly as many people there, my parents still had all their usual dishes; ham, crab dip, meatballs, nuggets, chips and dip, cookies, chocolates, fudge, black bottoms, and more that I know I’m forgetting (sorry, Mom).

At the end of the evening, me, my brother, and all of our cousins sit on our couch, and my grandfather sits in the middle to read us all T'was the Night Before Christmas. This is sort of a tradition inside of a tradition if you will, and this tradition goes way back to when my great-grandfather would read to my mother on Christmas Eve. At one point, all of us could fit on the couch because we were so little, but now we’re sitting on top of each other for the sake of tradition. Nevertheless, my grandfather puts on his Santa hat and his Santa beard I made him when I was little, and reads to us all. As the years go by, I find myself not listening to the story anymore and instead listening to my grandfather; his passion, his excitement, and his pure love for our family are some things that get me emotional every year. When he reads the story, everyone goes silent and listens; hearing not his words, but him. One day, it will be me who hosts Christmas Eve, and it will be my father who reads the story to my kids and my brother’s kids. But, for now, I cherish every Christmas Eve when my poppy reads to us.

Read other articles by Gracie Smith

The Owen family Christmas

Devin Owen
MSMU Class of 2026

Growing up, I was always told that Christmas should be my favorite time of year because I got to have ‘two Christmases’ due to my parents’ divorce. Personally, I thought it was unnecessarily tense and not as "holly jolly" as it was supposed to be. As I got older though, I managed to reignite my love for the holiday season with new traditions and better ways of carrying out the older ones.

One of my favorite holiday traditions is Christmas Morning Breakfast, which has been a tradition from my mom’s side of the family since before I was born, with my sisters experiencing it long before I came along. Each year, we spend Christmas Eve prepping a casserole that my mom calls "Christmas Morning Breakfast," it’s made of egg, sausage, cheese, and bacon. I’ve had other people make it for me before when our holiday custody agreements would change, but I don’t think anybody makes it as good as my mom does. Come Christmas morning, mom gets up and cooks the casserole while we all gather and wait for her in the living room to open presents.

In recent years though, the tradition of Christmas morning has changed a little bit. In September of 2020 my niece, River, was born and a year and a half later, my nephew, Wilder, came along changing the trajectory of how the day was spent. Since then, we have spent Christmas morning over at my sister’s house. Now, we still prep the casserole the night prior, but we bring it over with us to cook there instead while the kids are hollering out to anyone who will listen about opening their presents. In addition to the casserole, my sister makes homemade cinnamon rolls and preps coffee and orange juice for anyone who might want it. We spend the morning watching the kids ripping through wrapping paper and hearing the sounds of laughter and love flow through the house with the delicious scent of sweet cinnamon and vanilla wafting through the air. I sit on the floor with the two human embodiments of my heart as they climb all over me, giving hugs and kisses, helping me open my own presents, fighting over who gets to sit next to me for breakfast and asking me to play with them and the toys that they got. Moments like these are my favorite, holiday or not.

From Christmas morning I move on to time with my dad and his side of the family. Around 1 o’clock my brother and I will head over to my grandparents’ house to give them their presents from us. My absolute favorite part of this is giving my grandfather his gift: chocolate-covered cherries. For some reason, he’s obsessed with them and without us even realizing it, gifting him the sweet treats became a tradition right under our noses. He knows what he’s getting each year without me even having to give him the gift. Giving my family their gifts might just be my favorite part of the holiday each year. I try to make or buy more thoughtful gifts for everyone in my family because, sentimentality, is one of the most important values in our home. I think the best gift I ever gave was to my Uncle Charlie; I made him a collage of our pictures together with a note saying just how important to me that he was. It made him cry, which of course made me cry too.

The holiday here has felt a little different as of late though. In my freshman year of college, my uncle passed away from cancer. For the last few Christmas holidays I got to have with him, I would make homemade raspberry turnovers. He always said that they were his favorite treat. Unfortunately, after he passed, I couldn’t find it in me to make them for our first holiday season without him. However, I plan on making it a tradition to have them at every holiday get-together we have in order to keep him with us in spirit.

It's no secret that as you get older things in your life begin to change. Since coming to college, the holidays feel different. I drown myself in work during finals week and then go home for a month to celebrate the holidays with my family. We jump from house to house, with plans of gift giving and receiving, breakfast, lunch and dinner plans set up well in advance, and the goal of spreading Christmas joy. Something I have found myself cherishing about Christmas as a college student is making new traditions with my friends and roommates here at the Mount. Since freshman year, we always have a night where we do something fun and holiday themed. Freshman year my roommate and I got matching pajamas, made gingerbread houses, and played games like Uno and Exploding Kittens on the floor of our dorm. Last year, since there were four of us instead of two, we exchanged gifts for ‘secret Santa’ and played games while wearing light-up reindeer antler headbands. This year, we are exchanging gifts again and having a hot chocolate bar to make fancy hot chocolates for one another while watching holiday movies!

This Christmas, I was offered the opportunity to spend the holidays in Switzerland with my boyfriend and his family. Talk about a Christmas present! I’ve never been out of the country before, in fact, I just recently (last month) got my passport. I’ve been grappling with the decision on going or staying with my family in Delaware. I have always spent the holidays with my family—we have our traditions and I’m not sure that I’m ready to part from them just yet.

But that’s a part of growing up. Our traditions change over the years, our families grow as we get into relationships, have kids, and go off on our own as adults. Changing traditions doesn’t change the love we have for our families, nor does it mean that we’re giving up on what we grew up with. Instead, it means that we’re in a position to make new traditions with our bonus family members and spread our traditions amongst new people. Personally, I’m looking forward to everyone knowing the Owen family traditions and keeping them alive.

Read other articles by Devin Owen

Cozy do-nothingness of Christmas

Dolores Hans
MSMU class of 2025

My restful slumber is interrupted when I awaken at the remembrance that it is almost Christmas. From beneath the covers, I shift my feet back and forth, carefully feeling the foot of the bed for something that doesn’t typically belong. When my foot arrives at the heavy object at the end of my bed, I am filled with excitement and fall back to sleep with a smile on my face. When I awaken again, it is morning. The icy breeze drifts through the thin slits that surround my windows, and the warmth that I had built up beneath my blanket is disturbed as I frantically search the foot of the bed once again.

The first exciting moment of Christmas Day is the discovery of the stocking full of gifts at the end of my bed. I take a quick glimpse, the first thing I lay my eyes on always being toothpaste or shampoo, and hastily, silently, make my way to the bathroom to brush my hair and teeth before the festivities begin. As I walk through the hallway to my little sibling’s bedroom, stocking in hand, I take a quick peak at the tree in the living room. The lights glisten on the tree, creating a warm glow throughout the room.

The multitude of Santa statues that have been collected by my parents throughout their marriage are scattered around the room. Baby Jesus is present in the Nativity as it is now the day of his birth. Presents line the space beneath the tree’s branches, and there is a handwritten note beside a plate of crumbs that used to hold our iconic Italian cookies. I take a deep breath, taking it all in, and then quietly, I approach the bedroom door of my little sibling’s room. I open it gently and sit beside my baby sister, gently stroking her back. I beg her softly to wake up because it’s Christmas. She sits up, her disheveled hair standing up in all directions, and she groggily wraps her arms around me, still mostly asleep. Once she has finally processed what I said, she bounces up full of energy and says, "It’s Christmas?!" She finds her stocking at the foot of her own bed, and begins to pull out the trinkets within as I go to wake my baby brothers in the same way.

Once all the children are awake, one by one, each of the rest of my siblings enter the bedroom and go through their stockings. We all compare gifts, sometimes even trading, and delight in the gifts we got, even the toothpaste and shampoo. This is my favorite time. Just me and my siblings, hanging out in our matching pjs, waiting for our parents to wake up so we can all go to the living room. My dad finally enters the bedroom that we all have congregated in, classically wearing a robe and a Santa hat. He wishes us a ‘Merry Christmas’ and gives us all hugs. Then he goes back to his room, probably to tell my mom that all us heathens are awake and ready to open presents. Once she is up, we all go to the living room, dad blasts some classical Christmas music, and mom plops herself down on the couch with a massive cup of tea. My siblings and I all claim a spot around the room and await the commencement of gift giving.

Every year, my family and I do a secret Santa, only we are required to make the gift. This is also my favorite part. Getting to see how each of my family members made something that is specifically for another person. I can recall all the best gifts that were given, but the absolute best was when my parents had picked each other in the secret Santa. My mom created a wooden manger to go on the front lawn, something my dad had been wanting for years, and my dad really broke out the carpentry skills by hand-making a bench that is a replica of one that they call "our bench" which rests at a botanical garden they used to frequent in their relationship. After this, we get to open our gifts from Santa. After all presents have been opened, we spend the rest of the day sitting around in our pajamas, and just doing whatever; ranging from crafts, watching movies, eating, playing outside, and more. I spend the day reminiscing about Christmas Eve, which for my family, is bigger and more festive than Christmas Day.

We spend the morning making Italian Christmas Cookies with my grandma, we get dressed up and go to mass, and then my family, including all of my aunts, uncles and cousins, all meet up at my grandma’s house. We have a wonderful dinner, spend an agonizing time taking photos, and then we open our first gift. It is always from my grandma, and it is always matching pajamas. My siblings and cousins and I all call dibs on the bathrooms and bedrooms to get out of our fancy clothes as soon as possible. We all emerge in the wackiest Christmas pajamas you can imagine, and plop down in the living room to continue with the gift giving with a secret Santa.

The best part is waiting to see who my grandpa had, because he always ‘conveniently’ forgets that there is a $25 limit. Then, we sing happy birthday to my grandma (and Jesus) because both were born on December 25th. At the end of the night we gather by the front door, grandma reads a classic Christmas book to the youngest kids, and the rest of us women regret not bringing a change of shoes while we stuff our feet back into our heels, which are the perfect fashion statement with our Christmas pjs. Christmas Eve is one of my favorite days. But Christmas Day is its own kind of wonderful. After the cozy do-nothingness of Christmas Day, the night ends with a massive order of the most delicious Chinese food you’ve ever tasted, brought right to our door.

Read other articles by Dolores Hans

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