Clicking Our Heels – Our Special Holiday Traditions
Linda Rodriguez – Before the pandemic, we used to gather at my house–in later years, my sister’s house–for a feast and extended-family get-together. We haven’t started anything back up since. I suspect my youngest son, who now lives 3 minutes away, will spend the holidays with us.
Bethany Maines – Panic about presents and then nap in protest of winter? I’m not sure those are traditions so much as simply what happens repeatedly.
Joyce Woollcott – I’m Canadian, so we don’t celebrate Thanksgiving as much as our American neighbours but Christmas Eve, when our daughter was young, we listened to Dylan Thomas reading a Child’s Christmas in Wales. And we still do, all together, with the addition of one son-in-law and one little grandson. So lovely.
Debra H. Goldstein – Enjoying family time.
Paula G. Benson – This year, I’m looking forward to returning to a tradition of working with my church on a holiday musical to be presented in early December. We have not been able to have one since the pandemic.
T.K. Thorne – Recuperating.
Lois Winston – For most of my adult life, my family and I spent Christmas Eve with very close friends. Unfortunately, life got in the way, people moved out-of-state, and the tradition eventually came to an end.
Kathryn Lane – On Christmas Eve, we invite friends to join us for tamales and Christmas punch.
Dru Ann Love – This year, I’ll be recuperating from knee surgery replacement, and ever since my mom passed away, we don’t have a family tradition anymore.
Lynn McPherson/Sydney Leigh – I’m Canadian so our Thanksgiving comes this year in early October. We like to go to pumpkin patches, enjoy large family dinners, and go for beautiful walks in the fall.
Barbara J. Eikmeier – I hang a dog and cat garland with all the dog or cat tags of our past pets including their rabies tags (because they have the county we lived in). We have an angel ornament for each animal and this year will be adding our dog Holly who passed away in April.
I also do a little happy dance in celebration of Winter Solstice and have been known to host a party. Once we’re past the Winter Solstice, even though Feb, our coldest month in KS, is yet to come, I feel like summer (my favorite season) is almost here.
Mary Lee Ashford – My family gets together on Thanksgiving for a very large (40 or so people) celebration and I always look forward to that. Although we live close, we’re all so busy that we don’t get together as much as we should. For Christmas it’s just the immediate family – two sons & daughter-in-laws, and six grandchildren. However, the past several years the grandchildren have spent New Year’s Eve with us while their parents went to dinner or to a New Year’s Eve get-together and I love that time with the grands. We munch on leftover holiday goodies and hot cocoa. At midnight we toast with sparkling cider, toot our noise-makers, and watch the ball drop in Times Square. I’m glad the neighbors are tolerant as I’m pretty sure we get a little louder each year. There was a time when the grands were young enough that I could convince them that it was the New Year when the clock turned over in New York City, but now they’re older and they’re on to me. Such great memories!
