Holiday Memories and Traditions · traditions go, Christmas Eve is full of them! We go to candlelight service at church and get Chinese food on the way home for dinner. We each get

Holiday Memories and Traditions

There are so many holiday memories from my childhood days. One is

cutting out pictures of gifts from the JC Penney catalog that I hoped

to see under the tree on Christmas morning. I would write Santa a

letter telling him what a good girl (LOL) I had been all year and

included the pictures of gifts I hoped to get. While I still believed in

Santa, my mother would take me to the Post Office so I could mail

Santa’s letter! I’d help mom bake Christmas cookies and we’d have to

hide them so my 3 Cookie Monster brothers wouldn’t eat them all at

once! One of the traditions was decorating the tree with my 4 siblings

while my dad played Christmas songs on the organ. My parents would

run their fingers along the song sheet so I could follow the words and

we’d all sing together! Another fond memory is putting on our

Christmas jammies and hopping in the station wagon with my

parents and siblings to go for a fun drive around the neighborhood to

view the beautiful Christmas lights. Then we’d come home and have

hot choc. and cookies before bedtime. These are just a few of my

many more wonderful Christmas memories. I continued many of

these traditions with my own family and now that they are grown, I

hope to be able to do this in the near future with their little ones! –Pat

Wasserman

I loved the annual Tree Trimming Party at my Uncle Frank’s

house. Life-size lit-up Santa stood in the driveway in Dellwood

beckoning us in. ( I announced every year that we should get one just

like that, but my parents assured me that our life-size lit-up nativity

scene was the better choice. I disagreed wholeheartedly as the set

was incomplete until the evening of December 24th anyway, when

baby Jesus could finally be placed in manger. It just didn’t give me

quite the same feeling as the waving, smiling, partying Santa.) My

Uncle Frank greeted us with a mouthful of cigar, welcomed us into

the living room where the luminous undecorated tree stood in the

living room and Bing Crosby and the Andrew sisters played on the

swanky console stereo. (I thought we should purchase Bing Crosby’s

Christmas album since we mainly listened to Johnny Mathis, and I

was assured once again by my mother that Johnny Mathis was the

better choice for a number of reasons, but I think it might have

something to do with Bing being Catholic and not being very nice to

his wife). The annual tamales were boiling in a pot in the kitchen and

this was the only time of year I ever ate them, which was an odd

choice for an Irish Catholic bunch. (I think my uncle explained to me

once that many people eat tamales to bring good luck for the New

Year. I never knew if this was true, since Uncle Frank could fabricate

some whopping stories.) The rest of the evening took on a life of its

own which involved some mandatory tree decorating (I liked the

tinsel on their tree the best-another thing we didn’t have at my

house. My mom banned it from our home since “it was just too messy

and really wasn’t pretty at all.”) I mostly loved being cracked-up on

Pepsi (as much as I wanted!), racing around the house with my

cousins, putting on an impromptu musical show in the basement,

watching cartoons in the dark closet with my cousin’s movie

projector, singing Christmas Carols at the top of my lungs, and being

allowed to stay up with the grown-ups, waaaaay past my bedtime. –

Terri O’Donoghue

I grew up in Texas, so I never even wished for a white Christmas. One

year, however, we woke up Christmas morning to probably only about

an inch or two of snow, but we were thrilled!! My sister and I were so

anxious to get outside and play, that we quickly checked out what

Santa brought us, and ran back upstairs to put on as many clothes as

we could find to keep us warm. We didn’t really have any winter gear,

so we put sweatpants and jeans on over our pajamas, and put on

layers of shirts and socks. We made snow angels and attempted to

make a snowman, and then came back in and had hot chocolate by

the fire. It was magical! –Dorie Noll

One of my favorite Christmas memories is we used to go to the

Baum’s home every year during the Christmas season to

celebrate. Terry Baum was a student at CID and my mom had taught

him when she was a teacher here. She then tutored Terry in our

home for probably 10-15 years…and he became like family to us. My

other favorite memory was going downtown to look at the Christmas

windows at the old Famous Barr and driving around to look at the

lights. I still love to do that with my grandkids—especially Tillis

Park. We drive through Tillis Park and sing Chanukah songs! –Robin

Feder

When I was little, my immediate family…all 9 of us… would have a

special Christmas eve dinner and always had punch in our “pretty”

punch bowl. Our parents gave us a family gift that night. One year

we got a typewriter, one year a tape recorder, one year a piano, and

one year we got PONG…yes I am dating myself here. We would then

pile into the station wagon and drive around the fancy subdivisions

looking at Christmas lights. (Santa mom stayed back and set up the

gifts from Santa.) On Christmas morning we would have to wait until

everyone was awake to come open presents…then it was all over in 10

minutes! My dad made a special breakfast while the rest of us got

ready for mass. After mass we would just hang out until it was time to

go to one of my aunts and uncles house where we could visit with all

our cousins. That was always fun because my uncles were very happy

drinkers and usually were very entertaining. It was always such a

special time of year…. It never occurred to me that the cardboard

fireplace we put up was tacky. We loved it so much…extra tape was

added every year to get it to stand up! Ahh, the good ole days! Xo –

Chris Clark

Christmas is always my favorite time of year! My favorite memories

are of every Christmas morning as a child, my 5 siblings and I would

all sleep in one room like a slumber party. We would wake up at 4:30

am, if we slept at all, and go in to my parents room with candles and

wake them up with a Christmas carol. We would line up on the stairs,

youngest to oldest, and my dad would go down stairs to see if Santa

came. Finally, after starting the morning coffee, he would say we

could come down the stairs. The appearance of the tree with all of the

toys and presents underneath was truly a magical sight! –Mary Rice

When I was a little girl, my dad and I would have a special father-

daughter date before Christmas. I would get a new fancy dress and he

would take me downtown to see the Nutcracker. I was a dancer from

age three all the way through college, so I loved seeing the beautiful

ballerinas on stage and dreamed that would be me one day!! As far as

traditions go, Christmas Eve is full of them! We go to candlelight

service at church and get Chinese food on the way home for dinner.

We each get a new set of Christmas pajamas (still!) and an ornament.

Then my siblings and I exchange our gifts to each other. Then we all

watch Christmas Vacation, which is the only movie in the world that

makes my family seem relatively normal. –Kelly Wood

One of my favorite Christmases was the year my mom gave birth to

my baby brother on Christmas Eve night. I was ten. My

grandmother, Mugga, lived with us and put my sisters to bed at the

usual time. My brother Harlan and I (we two are the eldest) were

allowed to stay up and make sugar cookies while we waited for the

exciting news. Harlan fell asleep face down in the cookies while we

were decorating them, so I was the only child awake when my dad

called to let us know Zane had arrived. Dad is a doctor and stayed at

the hospital to be with my mom (and to work), so he put me in charge

of filling the stockings and setting out all of the toys (some of which I

had to put together) for my brothers and sisters. I was so proud and

excited that morning – I had been in on a big secret and had a new

baby brother (who got to come home in a big stocking)! –Erin Mabrey

My favorite holiday tradition goes back way before I was born. My

grandma’s family is from the “country” (Drake, MO, population 7).

However, the house she grew up in is a beautiful and OLD farm

house. My uncle now owns it. Ever since I can remember, we go out

there the weekend before Christmas and have “Christmas in the

Country” as my family fondly calls it. We get dressed up, eat and

drink all day, have a formal sit down dinner…the whole nine yards. It

feels very Norman Rockwell. When I was very little my great grandma

was still alive and made an excellent dinner. Now my kids get to

celebrate with their great grandma. I would not change anything

about it and continue to look forward to it for many, many more

generations. –Abby Zoia

One Christmas memory stands out in my mind as very unusual. One

year, my aunt and uncle (who were farmers) decided to decorate a

tractor and hitch a big trailer onto it with hay bales. Then all of my

aunts, uncles and cousins (and myself) hopped on the hay bales, and

we drove around town singing Christmas carols. Mind you, none of us

are very stellar singers, but what we lacked in talent, we made up for

with sheer enthusiasm. What a strange sight that must have been to

most people peeking out their windows. Aaah, that crazy Garrison

family! –Melany Nitzsche

Holidays are always special times to me. So, I didn’t want to limit

myself to just Christmas. My favorite Halloween memory is having

chili on Halloween. My mom didn’t realize she did this EVERY year

until one year she made spaghetti and I cried because it was supposed

to be chili (well, I also cried because I was sick on Halloween!). I

carry on this tradition. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. My

favorite Thanksgiving memory is taking a walk after the big

Thanksgiving meal. I (sometimes) carry on this tradition. My favorite

Christmas memory is decorating the tree while drinking homemade

hot cocoa and listening to Gene Autry’s Christmas album. The Gene

Autry album bit the dust during the age of 8-tracks but we still make

hot cocoa and listen to Christmas music while decorating the

tree. My favorite Easter memory…eating peeps!! My favorite Fourth

of July memory was celebrating my dad’s July 5th birthday with his

special BBQ. Yum! My favorite unofficial holiday (a SNOW DAY!) is

making French toast in our pajamas! We definitely carry on this

tradition! –Patti Hoffman

My favorite tradition is going to Ted Drewes to get a Christmas Tree

in the bitter cold weather. Letting my kids run in and out of the trees

the way my sisters and I used to. After we pick a tree, eating ice cream

in the car listening to Christmas music. Then enjoying the smells of a

real tree at our house. –Natalie Lutkewitte

My favorite holiday tradition was and still is celebrating Christmas

Eve at my Grandma’s house. We have tons of appetizers and snacks

that I eat until I feel sick. We open presents from youngest to oldest

and then Santa knocks on the door and leaves a trash bag of presents

just outside the door at my grandma’s. My cousins and I are now too

old for Santa to come, but we laugh every year about the presents in a

trash bag! After my Grandma’s we would go home and open gifts

from our parents, always pajamas and socks. To this day, I still get a

pair of pajamas and socks. –Emily Humphrey

One of favorite holiday memories, which can now be called a

tradition, is going to buy our Christmas tree. As a kid it was always

fun because my siblings and I would play hide and seek in all the trees

while my parents sought out the perfect balsam...(or whatever).

Nowadays we all get together to buy our trees and go out to dinner

afterwards. No matter how hectic our lives and schedules are now

that we've all grown up, this is something my entire family does

together every year. Every year something about "Tree Night", as

we've dubbed it, is always memorable- whether it be the freezing,

snowy weather on the night we went one year, the time my sister's

purse was stolen while we were tree shopping, or this year when none

of the tree lots were even open when we went, it's always a fun night

with my family. This year was the first year I've had to buy my own

tree for my own house, so I'm happily continuing the tradition with

my family. –Danielle Pipitone

My family’s holiday tradition is a “Christmas Essay”! When my

Grandmother retired, she started taking writing classes and decided

we all would write a story once a year. She has picked the topic for

our Christmas Essays for over 20 years. The results have been as

short as Haiku’s and as long as 15 pages. –Meghan Cohen

My brother and I always went to my grandparents’ house in Southern

Illinois on Christmas Eve. My family from Mississippi would also

come. I always enjoyed seeing my cousins and catching up with

them. After we had a big dinner and my Grandpa’s Christmas cookies

for dessert, we would open presents from youngest to oldest. Every

year my brother would open all his presents while no one was

looking, so when it was his turn he would get into trouble. We always

drove back home that night so that we could spend Christmas day at

home and wake up to Santa’s gifts. –Jennifer Manley

My favorite holiday tradition growing up was going to midnight mass

with my family. No matter how tired we were every year after

Christmas Eve at my Grandma’s house, we would always make it to

mass that night. Even though we wouldn’t go to bed until around

2am, my brother, sister, and I would still end up waking up by 7am,

ready to see what Santa brought us! –Laura Hoeflinger

My favorite holiday traditions is driving around and looking at

Christmas lights. I remember laying in the back of my parents’ station

wagon snuggled in a warm blanket listening to Christmas music and

staring at lights for what felt like hours. Although we lived in Ste.

Genevieve, we would always drive up to South St. Louis once a year

and look at the neighborhoods all lit up. We’d also visit different

drive-thru displays every year. It was magical. Now I take my kids and

drive through South St. Louis and visit Tilles Park on CID night. I love

it! –Amanda Dunaway

As a child a favorite tradition was always baking Christmas cookies

with my mom and sister. We didn’t have a big mixer so we used a

hand held mixer. One year we burned up two mixers and ended up

mixing most of the cookies by hand. Today we continue our tradition

with my sister, her daughter, Erin and now Reagan! We finally broke

down and purchased a large mixer to handle the hundreds of cookies

we bake. –Barb Lanfer

Our tradition was that all gifts were under the tree before Christmas

Eve – except the ‘big’ gift from Santa and the stocking. Santa’s gift

was always there Christmas morning, for some reason made extra

special by not being wrapped. One year I surprised my mom and dad

with two holly plants left by “Santa” for them. We ripped through the

wrapped presents Christmas morning, of course. Then there were the

stockings. They were full of lots of fun little toys, jewelry, candy

(including the accordion hard candy that stuck to the felt of the

stocking – yuk!) and one child-specific gift. As the younger (bratty)

sister, I was usually jealous of my older sister’s stocking gift. My

favorite memory, which I’ve shared more than once, was when Mom

made red-hot applesauce (melting spicy cinnamon candies into

applesauce) in her only large saucepan. She then washed it and used

it to make the mashed potatoes. But apparently the food coloring had

remained in the pot, so we had pink mashed potatoes. Dad kept

commenting about them, but we three girls kept denying that they

were anything other than perfectly white mashed potatoes. –Julia

West

One of my favorite Christmas memories is my family going to get our

very first puppy on Christmas Eve. My mom scared the living

daylights out of me by calling up the shop where I was working to say

that there was a family emergency and she was coming to pick me up

immediately. Once my family picked me up and assured me that there

was no real emergency, we drove far outside the city to pick up the

puppy my mom had chosen weeks before. The fact that my sister and

I were teenagers at the time in no way diminished the excitement of

watching a new puppy clumsily explore the presents on Christmas

morning. As far as the Christmas job that I so abruptly left, I never

returned. –Jackie Unser

I have two special Christmas memories from my childhood. Early each

December, I looked forward to going with my Daddy to choose the

perfect Christmas tree. For hours we traipsed place to place in search

of that perfect tree. And if that almost perfect tree was even a little bit

skimpy in one or two spots, Daddy would buy extra boughs, drill holes

in the trunk and make that tree perfect. We were so proud! When I

was five, Santa brought me a beautiful doll with blonde hair. When I

was six, Santa brought me a beautiful doll with brown hair, and sitting

next to her under the tree was the first doll wearing a gorgeous new

dress that my Mom had made. Every Christmas after that, both dolls

would be under the tree with new dresses that Mom lovingly created. I

still have the dolls and their gowns, and my granddaughters all adore

the dolls, and hearing the story about their Great-Grandma. –Dianne

Gushleff

Every year on Christmas Eve, when my family and I would return

from Christmas Eve mass, there would be a brand new pair of

pajamas (usually holiday patterned) on our beds for me and my

siblings to sleep in that night. It was always so exciting to come home

and have that surprise waiting for us, since it was the first present of

Christmas. None of us could ever figure out how my mom was so

sneaky and laid them out on our beds before church – but she did a

great job. The tradition still lives on to this day…since yes, I still live

at home. –Megan Geisz

My family followed a German Christmas tradition where Santa

brought the Christmas tree on Christmas night. As a “believer” there

was nothing more magical than waking up and seeing lights flickering

in the hallway, revealing that the tree and presents were there. When

we were old enough, we were then able to stay up late and decorate

the tree for my younger siblings. That was almost equally as exciting,

and it always ended in a trip to Taco Bell for some reason. Donnie

and I continue the tree tradition, but we substitute adult beverages

for the Taco Bell. –Greta Bohnenkamp

My brother and I were really close to two of my cousins growing up.

Sadly, they moved to Kansas City when I was ten, and they couldn’t

come to St. Louis the following Christmas. After a great Christmas

Eve and Christmas morning, my parents asked my brother and me to

rate our Christmas on a scale of 1-10. We both agreed it was a “9” and

that the only thing missing was our cousins. My parents responded

with, “Well, then let’s go see them!” and brought out our already-

packed suitcases. We hurried to the train station and rode the train to

Kansas City! When we arrived, we took a cab to my cousin’s house

and pretended to be Christmas carolers on their front porch.

Everyone was so surprised and happy to see us! I’ll never forget it.

Good job, Mom and Dad. –Meg Hornof

My favorite holiday memory is decorating our Christmas tree each

year when I was a child. We’d drink hot chocolate (the REAL kind

that you make with milk, chocolate and sugar in a sauce pan) and stir

it with candy canes while we hung lights and ornaments on the tree.

We listened to the Carpenters Christmas album and the Willie Nelson

Christmas album. I still love every song on both of those cds. Then

we’d turn off all the lights in the house, lay on the floor, listen to the

music and watch the lights on the tree twinkle. It was so peaceful and

great. –Ellie White

Every year on (or day after depending on how we felt) Thanksgiving

my family would put up the Christmas Tree and watch Christmas

Vacation! I love that movie. –Sara Sisk

My best Christmas memory was coming down the stairs and spying a

pink play kitchen complete with broom, dustpan and ironing board.

It's no wonder I was a stay-at-home mom for so many years! –Amy

Varble

My favorite memory comes from my childhood. My family always

celebrated one night of Chanukah with another family whose kids

were the same age as me and my brother. We played traditional

games like spin the draydel, but also played silly games. I still

remember the year the dads laid on the floor and the kids stacked

paper cups on their stomachs. Every time the dads laughed, the cups

fell and we all thought that was hilarious! I miss that kind of simple

fun!! –Lynda Berkowitz

My favorite holiday memory is sledding with my mom over Christmas

break (when or if it snowed). My mom loved to go sledding and would

always find an excuse to be outside when all the kids were on the hill

outside the house where I grew up. She was still getting out there

before her heart attack in 1982 (at the age of 60) and really missed it

after that. We used to have so much fun! I guess that’s why I love the

snow so much. –Susie Whaley

My favorite holiday memories are from when I was a child. My family

would go to a Christmas Tree Farm and cut down our own tree. Once

we got home with our new tree, it was always an adventure; we would

have hot chocolate and decorate the tree while Christmas music was

playing in the background. –Andrea Osman

My favorite holiday memory is my dad walking through the house

signing Joy to the World at 5am Christmas morning. –Donita Gibbs