Christmas Traditions New and Old
Christmas is celebrated around the world and each of us has our own Christmas traditions that have been created with family and friends over the years. Many of these traditions include the kind of foods we eat.
If you are of an Italian descent, you most likely remember Christmas Eve dinner with the feast of seven fishes. This Italian-American tradition is a celebration where the family eats a meal containing at least 7 seafood dishes.
As a child I did not think that much about those traditions, but as I grew older I realized that when you left home to go out on your own, many of those traditions you brought along with you and into your new life. I always remember having eggnog after going to church services on Christmas eve, and I have continued that tradition today. For the kids, we spice up the eggnog with powdered ginger. For the adults, we add powdered ginger and a bit of the "nog" of their choice – bourbon, scotch or rum.
We also have created a tradition around the Christmas tree itself. When my wife and I were first married, we began sending Christmas ornaments to our family and friends as a small token of our love. We, in turn, received ornaments from several of our closest friends and that tradition continues even today, a whole lifetime later. This makes decorating the tree a fun tradition for all of the family as we break out the ornaments and remember our friends who sent all of these ornaments to adorn our tree.
So, keep the season festive and full of traditions that you too can create.
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In my family, our greatest tradition is the gathering of our entire extended family on Christmas Eve, something we’ve done without fail the last 44 years. I think our record high was 36, and that doesn’t include the dogs. [...].
