Monthly Archives: December 2014

Christmas Traditions: Valerie Steimle

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Unorthodox Christmas Traditions

As a child, my parents were unorthodox in celebrating our Christmas holiday traditions. There was a reason for that: we were Jewish. Hanukah brought wonderful holiday traditions to our house. Each of the 8 nights of Hanukah we would light the Manorah at sun down and play with dreidels (spinning tops). We would eat chocolate coins called gelt (Yiddish word for money) and in the mornings my father would make potato latckes (potato pancakes) for breakfast. The problem was we lived in a predominately Christian neighborhood and my mother felt bad (or guilty) that we couldn’t celebrate Christmas too so each Christmas we had a tree as well. One front window had the Manorah and the other front window had a somewhat decorated Christmas tree.

Now as an adult, I celebrate Christmas with my children (as I have converted to Christianity) but want to keep my Judean traditions. One front window has the Christmas tree and the other has the Manorah. Since my husband had been a Christian all of his life we added a few extra traditions.

Every December 1st, I hung a cloth Advent calendar with pockets big enough to hold small candies. Each morning, one child would take a turn to move the Christmas mouse to the next pocket and pass out candy to each child until Christmas Eve.

On Christmas Eve we read the Story of the Christ Child from Luke chapter two along with reading The Journey of the Magi which was one of my husband’s favorite. We would give one gift to each of our children that night to open which was usually pajamas and then in the morning we would sit in a big circle around the tree. My husband would pass out one gift at a time instead of the mad dash which made opening presents last much longer and we could savor every minute.

Part of the children’s Christmas stocking treat was receiving their favorite box of cereal so they would eat that for breakfast and we would eat Christmas dinner later that afternoon. Christmas was a reminder to all of us how grateful we were for the Savior and we would anonymously deliver a plate of Christmas cookies to our neighbors.

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Bio:
Valerie Steimle is the mother of nine children living in southern Alabama and has been a family advocate for the past 25 years. She is the author of five books including Thoughts From the Heart: Writings from the Gulf Coast of Alabama which is a collection of her column of living life in Alabama and what is important. Visit her website http://www.strengthenyourfamily.com or her blog http://valeriesteimle.blogspot.com for more information on her books or you can email her at valeriesteimle@yahoo.com

Christmas Traditions: Margaret Turley

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Today’s post comes to us from an amazing lady, Margaret Turley. Don’t forget to leave a comment to be entered into the giveaway.

Elsie

As Nancy drifted off her thoughts went back to last Christmas. They were struggling financially, but otherwise things were pretty normal. It was Robert’s last year of law school and they knew that next year everything would be better. He already had a position offered to him at the law firm where he worked part time as a clerk.
Abby hadn’t asked Nancy or Robert for anything. She made gifts for the family. The purple elephant Sharon kept with her in the hospital used to be Abby’s favorite fleece blanket. She drew the pattern herself, cut out the pieces and sewed them together and then stuffed it with old stockings. Sharon hadn’t slept a night without her purple elephant until those first days in the hospital.
Ben got a monkey Abby made from tube socks. He loved playing with it.  She made a tie for Robert in Home-Economics class. Nancy was impressed with the scented candle Abby made for her. She even made an extra for Phyllis, her adopted grandmother.
The Christmas decorations had been sparse. Abby talked Robert into taking out his electric train that he got as a boy and they put it under the tree. In the afternoon while Nancy was cooking dinner she walked into the living room to check and see what the children were doing and found Ben and Sharon had placed some of the simple hand carved nativity set pieces in and on the cars of the train and turned it on. Like the co-conspirators they were they watched baby Jesus and two angels ride round and round the track in the cargo car, clapping their hands and jumping up and down with glee. They were so happy Nancy didn’t have the heart to scold them for their irreverence.
This Christmas scene is from the novel, Save the Child by Margaret Turley.