Holiday Traditions

Yesterday I was asked by one of my clients for suggestions that they could adopt as their own holiday meal traditions.  His family does the big turkey and all that stuff ( basically it's a rerun of Thanksgiving) while her home celebrated with a Mexican feast.  Now that they have their little one she was looking for something fun to try out this year as their own big Christmas meal.  We both went about our business and continued thinking about it and then said to each other at the same time "Paella!!"

In my house we have a big paella for Easter dinner.  We did it once and loved it so much that we have continued it and made it our family Easter tradition.  I don't think you can force a tradition into existence, but you have to start somewhere, right?

So I am writing down my recipe and loaning her my paella pan so they can try it out and see if they need to go buy a pan for next year.

Anyhoo, it did get me to thinking about our particular family traditions.  Traditions that Mr. Big Ed brought from his family, things that I do because my mom did them, or my aunt or one of my grandparents, and also the traditions that we have cobbled together over the long history of our marriage.

Mr. Big Ed's family was not big on stockings.  They were go to Midnight Mass people and then come home and eat the tamales that his Mom had worked on all day and then open presents.  I don't guess anyone felt the need to wake kids up early after all that to do stockings.

My family was HUGE on stockings.  We still are.  Our "stockings" are essentially large paper grocery sacks full of stuff with your stocking hanging on the front.  We totally over-do it.  It is an obscene display of over abundance is what it is.  We also did a big Christmas Eve thing with dips, pate', tamales, chili, and tons of cookies.  But we only got to open one gift on Christmas Eve.  Then Christmas morning we had our stockings, a special breakfast and then we got to open our gifts.

The holiday traditions that we have put together for our little family unit has grown and evolved and with each move to another country we added in something we picked up at each new place and also had to shed a few that were just not practical in the new place.

Our Christmas Eve and Christmas day is a real hybrid of what we each have brought and what feels right for us as we have grown.  For example, there were a number of years when 3 out of the 4 of us were vegetarian.  That right there will put a spin on your holiday menu.  And we try to work around what is important and a priority to each of us.

Being from Texas and having lived in Mexico for a number of years it is way up on the list of "Must Haves" that we make tamales for Christmas Eve.  Being from Texas it is equally important that we have the Velveeta/Ro-tel queso dip stuff.  From Mr. Big Ed's family we have onion dip with Ruffles.  Not just any onion dip, it needs to be the Borden brand store-bought stuff that you bring home and add a bunch of fresh black pepper and stir it up really well.  Lots of cookies and baked goods figure in.  And everyone loves the spicy roasted nuts.  This has gradually morphed into having cheese enchiladas, more tamales, guacamole and rice for Christmas dinner.

Usually for Christmas morning we will make a special drink.  Sometimes it is Bloody Marys or champagne and orange juice, but most times it is Mexican Hot Chocolate.  (Only Ybarra's not that crappy Abuelita's brand)  I either make a stuffed French toast or sometimes these ham cups that have either sauteed mushrooms or spinach in them and topped with eggs and then baked.  These are delicious.

I have cut way back on my giant bags-o-stocking stuffers.  No one wants all that much stuff.  I would rather buy one really fabulous bar of the best chocolate made than have 30 pieces of crappy candy.  So, that's kind of the way things are going for us.

I see our traditions as more of a fluid, moving thing rather than a set-in-stone "this is how we have ALWAYS done it" sort of thing.

So, here's what I want to know:  What are your holiday traditions?  What are the most meaningful things you do that if everything else fell away, this is the thing you would try to keep?

Lemme hear from you!  And remember, it is most important to be relaxed and enjoy the time together.  So don't sweat the small stuff and the details.  It will be wonderful even if the cards aren't all sent on time.  It will be just the way it is meant to be whether or not those bows match or not.  Enjoy your selves.

And thank you for reading.  And even more thanks for commenting through this year.  It really means a lot to me and inspires me.  That's my present from you!