Our family’s Christmas rituals

I was reading an article tody about the power of ritual -specifically, about holiday rituals. I know most of us don’t think of what we do at this time of year as “ritual” – it’s just the stuff we do at every Christmas. But isn’t that what rituals are? After all, we’re creatures of habit – we tend to visit the same coffeeshop for our “usual”, we order pretty much the same thing when we stop at McDonald’s for lunch, and we probably do the same thngs each year to celebrate the holdiay. The Bunker family is no different – the only difference might be that I make a conscious effort to celebrate with ertain rituals every yer, because I know how easy it can be to forget them, and I enjoy them too much to want to do that (and besides, how will Bunker Monkey learn about them if we don’t do them?).

So in honor of that, I thought I’d write a post today about what rituals we as a family celebrate with, and what rituals I personally observe (that’s a much smaller list, but it’s there):

Decorating

We (actually, I) have some “rules” I like to follow when it comes to decorating (although there have been times I’ve had to adapt them). We get the tree on the weekend before Christmas (this year we’re getting it a week earlier because of scheduling issues). The kid and hubs go to a local tree farm and cut it down themselves, and we decorate it that night (Christmas music and cookies are a must). Certain decorations always go on the tree, including the little plastic angels (which must be 40 years old, I imagine) from my parents’ tree; I remember decorating the tree with them when I was little. And don’t even think about suggesting a fake tree, or you’ll risk losing Christmas cookie privileges for the month!

And on the 1st of December, it’s time to decorate the house for the holidays. Some years it happens a bit later, but it can’t happen before the 1st, because the holiday season at our house doesn’t begin until then. Like the tree, some decorations have to go up, including the little ceramic nativity set and the plastic light-up Santa from my childhood.

Celebrations

For decades, Bunker Hubby’s parents held a Christmas Eve party that was tons of fun. When his parents passed, we took over, and we’re now in our 2nd year of hosting it. It’s a lot of work, especially considering that we also host Christmas dinner, but it’s totally, totally worth it! It’s a holiday party without the usual holiday issues – no having to buy gifts, no worrying about who’s going to have to sit next to obnoxious Uncle Fred, no pretending to eat Aunt Jean’s awful jello pudding. It’s potluck, too, which means you know there’s always going to be at least one dish you want to eat, and no one is stuck in the kitchen for hours making food. Basically, it’s good food, good drinks, good music, and lots of folks just letting loose.

Food

We do a few things every year – combined with a few new things. This year I’m making Christmas pudding for the first time; if it turns out to be worth it (it’s a little time-consuming to make, so the taste is gonna have to be pretty good!) I’ll add it into the holiday rituals. I also make the same cutout cookies with Bunker Monkey that I made with my sister when I was little (thanks, Betty Crocker cookbook!), and we get the Monkey a chocolate Advent calendar so he can count down the days to Christmas. A few years ago, I also started making a special dessert for my celiac brother-in-law that has become quite popular, so I make it for everyone now. We also try new stuff every year that doesn’t always make it into the “rotation”; the goose I made one year was delicious, but no one else likes goose in my extended family, so I won’t make it again. And the Italian Christmas cookies I made a couple of years ago are too much work to make every year, but I still make them every once in a while as a treat.

Special Events

We do a few things every year to celebrate Christmas – we visit the local “Lights in the Park” holiday display, we watch the same holiday movies (Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and the Peanuts Christmas movie for the kid, White Christmas and the Ref – among others – for mom), and I do some things that remind me of Christmases at my parents’ house, like writing Christmas cards and driving around to look at the holiday lights on folks’ houses.

Those are our holiday traditions – we’d love to hear about yours, so share them with us in the comments!