For the next few months, things are going to be a bit mad. So to keep up my writing and this site, I'm going to do in blogging what Radiolab occasionally does in podcasts and affectionately call 'shorts'. No, not the abbreviated pants, but abbreviated posts.
So today, let's catalogue my family's odd Christmas traditions:
- - a empty space where a tree should be
- More accurately, a bunch of boxes and a treadmill. My parents are constantly reshuffling the house, and I think they hate the to-do associated with setting up and taking down the tree. Christmas, unlike nature, apparently doesn't abhor a vacuum, but I do! - the sight of a pretty, lighted Christmas tree is sorely missed.
- - poorly wrapped presents
- My parents are the worst gift givers. As noted in a previous post, if they could just give me a plain, unvarnished stack of dollar bills they would. But they know that their daughter finds the idea of money gifts thoughtless and rather insulting, and so they try (I'm a spoiled only child, I know).
- But the idea of wrapping gifts in beautiful bows and carefully coordinated, pleated paper: that's completely beyond them. If something is stuffed in a paper grocery bag or still in its original shipping box, in their minds, that is gift-wrapping enough. So in the process of opening presents, I've had the pleasure of using box cutters and scissors to hack them open, the adventure of wading through pools of packing peanuts and endless bubble wrap to reveal the prizes inside.
- (Though, at one point in time, they somehow obtained a roll of Dragon Ball wrapping paper, and all my presents, birthday or holiday, for the next few years were surrounded by truly embarrassing reams of Gokus and Gohans. Embarrasing, but kind of sweet.)
- - Chinese food
- I'm slowly transitioning them to traditional dinners of some sort of roasted meat and side dishes - what can I say? I'm a twinkie. But inevitably, we will, over the course of the holiday, consume something harking back to our Asian heritage: stir-fries and lamb casserole at the local hole-in-the-wall Chinese restaurant where my parents know every waiters' name; an incongruent plate of steamed bok choy with oyster sauce placed next to the centerpiece of a tender, burnished prime rib roast; dim sum for Boxing Day breakfast. I used to hate it, but I've learned to compromise: this year, we're making dumplings for Boxing Day.
- - movies on Christmas Day
- Basically, we'd be Jewish, if we weren't Christian.
- - watching a Doctor Who marathon in preparation for the Christmas special
- Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm a nerd, and I'm one of those. It's a fairly new tradition, given that I just got sucked up into the Time Vortex that is Doctor Who, but now during some holiday in the year, I sit my parents on the couch and force them to watch the most recent season. In fact, last year during Thanksgiving, while I cooked, I made them watch a crash course of the best episodes from various seasons with various Doctors in an attempt to help them make some sense of the 50th anniversary special, which I made them watch with dessert. And then last Christmas, I proceeded to make them watch the Christmas special (also known as Matt Smith's last episode), where they have to put up with my teary eyes and stifled sobs as I mourned the loss of Chinboy.
- (I won over my dad, at least - my mom, not so much).
- - singing Christmas songs on Christmas Eve
- When I was really young, my parents used to make me preach a little message on Christmas Eve; I made a truly fiery and compelling preacher, with my Precious Moments peach colored bible, my school-ruled paper and penciled notes, and high-pitched voice. Needless to say, we don't do that any more (Thank God), but every year on Christmas Eve, we will gather around the piano and sing through the liturgy of traditional Christmas hymns before opening presents. It's rather lovely, touching, and a true tradition for us in every sense of the word.
- Throughout the rest of the holidays, though, you'll hear a strain of one holiday song or another drifting through the house. I can hear my mom singing "Winter Wonderland," as I type, except that she doesn't know any of the words besides "snowman," and is humming everything else in between. We define Christmas songs very loosely, so currently, besides the traditional and contemporary classics, our repertoire consists of:
- - all the songs from Les Miserables ('In My Life' is a particular favorite of mine, with classic holiday lines like, "Every word that he says/is like a dagger in me.")
- - all songs from Frozen, which my parents watched yesterday for the first time (my dad: "I really liked the music. I could understand every word they were saying without the subtitles.")
- - the Canadian national anthem (you know, winter? cold?)
- - the soundtrack from the Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe (truly underrated, fantastic instrumentals)
- - this one, which I heard IRL for the first time this year as a cover by a Southern boy with a twang at a local Philadelphia bar, and heard about on NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour in a great holiday episode (don't miss the epic rant about Heat Miser and Snow Miser)
- - since we're watching Into The Woods on Christmas Day, I'm thinking that'll be added to the playlist next year as well...
- - I'd like to submit this as a new holiday favorite, soon to be a classic. And this (yay The Killers!):
- - overnight french toast, easily made the night before in preparation for Christmas morning. Even better when made from pannettone (yum.)
Do you have any crazy family traditions of your own?
Merry Christmas Eve, Happy last day of Chanukah, happy holidays, and may you have many more new and wacky traditions in the years to come!
/c
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