I would love to hear about everybody's holiday traditions for Thanksgiving and Christmas, if you celebrate Christmas. If you don't celebrate Christmas, would you share whatever traditions you celebrate. I found the earlier stories really uplifting.
When I was housekeeping- eons ago :floorlaugh:, the holidays were always very busy for me. I would make Thanksgiving dinner at home (we found that since we moved to Pa., going to my in-laws in NYC [normally a 2 hour drive] was impossible because of all the traffic and it became a 4-hour drive). My older son and his wife would come for dinner (they were always late :facepalm
. On Black Friday, my friend and I would go shopping and have lunch, but because both of us were tired from all the Thanksgiving cooking, we wouldn't leave so early. It was mostly just to get out of the house.
Christmas was a big affair. On Christmas Eve, I would cook the "7 Fishes" (an Italian tradition):
Feast of the Seven Fishes - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Unlike my mother, who would make 7 fishes or more, I would make only about 4-5 dishes. There would be plenty of cookies, cakes, and candies- all made by me during December. After we ate and the dishes were done, the family presents would be opened. My older son would first give out the stockings and then the gifts (one by one). We would all go to midnight mass, which was always so crowded- we most likely had to sit up in the balcony.
On Christmas Day, Santa would come and then after breakfast, we would be off to NYC to have dinner with my husband's family (always a pleasure as I didn't have to cook :facepalm:, but I did help with the cleanup and, believe me, there were always a lot of people at their house and lots of cleanup.:scared: There were 6 children and all their children, some friends and, always, the priest, Father Frank. So, it was a huge affair.)
Now- Christmas is very different. It's very quiet and I don't make the "7 fishes", although we still open presents on Christmas Eve. Dinner is usually a turkey breast and the fixings that go with. If it's not too snowy, I'll try to make midnight mass by myself (my younger son doesn't believe- even tho' he attended Catholic school throughout his whole school time). More times than most, I won't go- it's too late for me and going out that late is too scary for me and I don't see that well at night anymore when I drive.
I don't see my older son for Christmas or Thanksgiving because he owns an oil company and it is his busy season, but he does call. I send presents to him in the mail.
I do put up a small tree now and still like the holidays- even tho' they are different.
Adding: I forgot that on Christmas morning, we wouldn't have breakfast at home. We would visit with my friend in Queens and have breakfast with her family. After our son, John-Patrick died and shortly thereafter, my father and mother died (all within a couple of years of each other), on Christmas morning we would stop at the cemetery in NYC (not far from my friend and my in-laws) to lay wreaths for them on their graves. This became a part of our Christmas tradition for years after.
