Mari Collier's Blog - Posts Tagged "traditions-generations"
Family Traditions
One post from a fellow writer inspired me to write about my own traditions when she asked, "What are your family Christmas traditions?" Most of us have them, not only Christmas, but others.
One week before Christmas we would set up our tree by a cold north window. We lived in Iowa, and that helped to insure that the tree would retain its needles. The house had no electricity. For bulbs we substituted candles. These would only be lit on Christmas Eve after returning from church. Yes, that was one of the traditions: Christmas Eve was at church. When we returned, Papa would stir up the fire in the dining room potbelly stove and the fancy cast iron coal burning stove in the living room. Mama would light the candles and then we would hold our own service. Mother had practiced the Christmas hymn on the piano all week and we would harmonize. She sang the high soprano and I sang second soprano or alto. Papa had a fine tenor voice. We read the gospel from Luke (Chapter 2) and closed with the Lord's Prayer. Everyone took turns opening their presents. We weren't rich so there was rarely more than four for any of us, but each one was treasured--except the play china I kept receiving. I did not play with "girl" things.
These weren't our only traditions. One involved the dark walnut desk my maternal grandfather had crafted as a wedding gift. It had the drop-down door which created a writing surface. The top section was filled with drawers and slots for bills, checkbooks, envelopes, a place for important correspondence, and a cubicle for the pinochle cards. Children were not permitted to touch these. There were small drawers. Hidden behind one of the drawers was a secret or hidden box. Underneath the drop-down leaf were two drawers filled with writing paper, pens, crayolas, chalk, and pencils. There were two doors on the bottoms section that held puzzles, coloring books, board games, and toys for children. The toys would vary as to the age of the children. When grandchildren were older and visited, toys were added for their age.
That concept stayed with me. The huge gun cabinet my husband received from his father, had four doors on the bottom. One section held our adult board and card games, the shelves behind one door was reserved for the children and their board games.
When we retired, our home had a built in corner cabinet in the hall. We promptly filled it with crayolas, art pencils of different hues, construction paper, Lego blocks, stuffed animals, pull toys, and playing cards. Our grandchildren would (like all grandchildren) pull everything out before selecting something that they wanted to play with that day.
Both grandchildren that live in this area are now teenagers and haven't looked in there for a couple of years. Today, Grandma's cabinet was cleared out. Now I have to find a place to donate some almost new used crayolas and one coloring book that was not used. Sad in a way. Perhaps some day there will be great-grandchildren and grandma's cabinet will be filled with important items again.
One week before Christmas we would set up our tree by a cold north window. We lived in Iowa, and that helped to insure that the tree would retain its needles. The house had no electricity. For bulbs we substituted candles. These would only be lit on Christmas Eve after returning from church. Yes, that was one of the traditions: Christmas Eve was at church. When we returned, Papa would stir up the fire in the dining room potbelly stove and the fancy cast iron coal burning stove in the living room. Mama would light the candles and then we would hold our own service. Mother had practiced the Christmas hymn on the piano all week and we would harmonize. She sang the high soprano and I sang second soprano or alto. Papa had a fine tenor voice. We read the gospel from Luke (Chapter 2) and closed with the Lord's Prayer. Everyone took turns opening their presents. We weren't rich so there was rarely more than four for any of us, but each one was treasured--except the play china I kept receiving. I did not play with "girl" things.
These weren't our only traditions. One involved the dark walnut desk my maternal grandfather had crafted as a wedding gift. It had the drop-down door which created a writing surface. The top section was filled with drawers and slots for bills, checkbooks, envelopes, a place for important correspondence, and a cubicle for the pinochle cards. Children were not permitted to touch these. There were small drawers. Hidden behind one of the drawers was a secret or hidden box. Underneath the drop-down leaf were two drawers filled with writing paper, pens, crayolas, chalk, and pencils. There were two doors on the bottoms section that held puzzles, coloring books, board games, and toys for children. The toys would vary as to the age of the children. When grandchildren were older and visited, toys were added for their age.
That concept stayed with me. The huge gun cabinet my husband received from his father, had four doors on the bottom. One section held our adult board and card games, the shelves behind one door was reserved for the children and their board games.
When we retired, our home had a built in corner cabinet in the hall. We promptly filled it with crayolas, art pencils of different hues, construction paper, Lego blocks, stuffed animals, pull toys, and playing cards. Our grandchildren would (like all grandchildren) pull everything out before selecting something that they wanted to play with that day.
Both grandchildren that live in this area are now teenagers and haven't looked in there for a couple of years. Today, Grandma's cabinet was cleared out. Now I have to find a place to donate some almost new used crayolas and one coloring book that was not used. Sad in a way. Perhaps some day there will be great-grandchildren and grandma's cabinet will be filled with important items again.
