Christmas traditions that last forever

LYNETTE HINTZE

I contemplated getting clear lights for the Christmas tree this year, and boy was that a mistake.

I had no sooner told my youngest daughter about the potential switch from colored to clear lights when my other daughter called.

"What's this I hear about you putting clear lights on the tree?" she inquired. "You know it's our tradition to have colored lights. How could even think about changing?"

"But clear lights are really in style right now," I responded defensively.

"Mom, what about tradition?"

They were right, to a point, and I succumbed to the pressure and strung the colored lights. Separated by hundreds of miles from family on both sides, we've strived to create our own holiday traditions through the years. But while these familiar things such as decorations and certain kinds of Christmas foods are soothing in their tradition, they've also made it next to impossible to incorporate new elements into the holidays.

For the past decade or longer I've wanted to replace the worn angel that tops our tree, but my girls won't hear of it. I bought the angel at a discount store in 1982, the year my husband and I were married. In its early days, the angel held a candle that flashed on and off when you plugged it in. I couldn't stand the blinking, so I clipped the cord about 20 years ago.

We've had the same ornaments, more or less, for the past two decades, and the same type of evergreen. My family wouldn't have it any other way.

As a girl, I remember being very attached to a set of bright blue bell ornaments crafted from silky polyester fabric. It was the late 1960s and those new ornaments (I'm not sure why or how Mom got them) represented a bold new change from the old and probably antique ornaments that graced our tree when I was growing up. Eventually, the blue bells fell apart, but those are the ones I remember best.

One tradition that hasn't caught on in my family is singing carols around the piano on Christmas Eve. My mother always pushed for us to gather and sing, but we were always too busy playing with new toys. Besides, singing carols was too corny, we told her, even though we regaled the crowds with Christmas songs during various school and church programs. That was different.

A few years ago I tried to instill that very tradition in my own home when my girls were both teens. My oldest daughter, not known to ever hold back on the sarcasm, said "Mom, the 1800s called and want their family time back."

OK, so much for caroling around the piano.

One of the traditions we hold dear is making sugar cookies while we sing along to the Christmas album of a certain boy band of the mid-1990s, whose name shall remain anonymous to protect my daughters' reputations as listeners of cool music.

There are so many traditions entwined in Christmas - lighting the candles during the Christmas Eve church service as we sing "Silent Night," waking up to filled stockings on Christmas morning, stuffing ourselves with prime rib and Norwegian goodies like lutefisk and lefse.

This year we had to veer from the norm and celebrate Christmas early because our oldest daughter was home in mid-December and has to work the holidays this year. It was great and leaves the door open to try something new on the actual holiday this year.

Since we've already had our traditional Christmas Eve meal (hors d' oeuvres and barbecued ribs) my husband is stepping outside the box to fix Cornish game hens with spiced pear gravy. It's a bold step, I'll admit, changing an entire menu, but as long as the angel is atop the tree and the colored lights are glowing, I think we'll be OK.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com