A Traditional Friday

Happy Friday everyone! I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas, Hanukkah, and all other holidays!


My mom is Christian and my dad is Jewish, so we celebrate both Christmas and Hanukkah in my little family. Really, we've celebrated Christmas my whole life, but it wasn't until I was around five (I think) and learned about Hanukkah that we started celebrating that too (my dad isn't a practicing Jew, so it was at my insistence). The main holiday is still Christmas though.

As I write this post I am partaking in my family's biggest Christmas tradition- we're staying with my aunt and uncle in Massachusetts. All of my mom's and dad's families live in Massachusetts and Connecticut, so we always come out here for Christmas (and Hanukkah, though we're not always out here during the actual eight days, since they don't always fall during the same time as vacation). This year, however, we are here for Hanukkah (right now) and we'll be seeing my dad's family for a Hanukkah dinner too! I don't get to go to many authentic Jewish holidays with my family, so I enjoy it when I can. Anyway, I'm digressing. So, my parents and I come out to New England for Christmas every year. I enjoy it out here. Two of my aunts (the ones we stay with when we're out here in the winter and summer) live in rural, Western Massachusetts. It's a bit middle-of-nowhere, but in a way that I like. When I was younger I dreaded losing cellphone service while out here, but now I don't mind- it's nice to have a break from my phone.

Really, my family is a bit boring in that we don't have any real traditions except getting together at my aunt's house for Christmas (it's been the same aunt for as long as I can remember, except for one year when we gathered at another aunt's house since the former was doing renovations). Oh, we also do a gift exchange among the adults instead of having everyone get everyone else a gift. The children get gifts from everyone until they're 18 and then they have the choice of joining the exchange or not. I'm doing it this year and got paired with one of my aunts, which is lucky because I've found it hard to get a good present in previous years when I got paired with one of my uncles!

Hmm... other traditions... I suppose it's traditional by now that everyone arrives about two hours later than they said they would. It seems like we open presents later and later each year, though that also probably has something to do with the fact that all the children are college-age or graduates now (save one or two grandchildren who are sometimes here) and therefore aren't as much-open-presents-now excited.

Of course there's the food too, generally everyone chips in and makes a little something. This year I'm making carrot cake as one of the desserts (there are multiple, of course). I actually made it tonight so that the kitchen will be less crowded on the actual day. It smells so good though, I need to just ignore its existence for the next two days.

Well, that's it for now because I am falling asleep as I type. Goodnight and Merry Christmas Eve Eve!