“So every Christmas Eve, back when my entire family and extended family lived in Seattle, we’d all meet up at the market downtown and then split up into groups so we’d be all over the entire market.  Each group would buy separate ingredients together that make one meal, and then after the market we’d go back to our house and each group would prepare their meal together, so once we all finished cooking we’d have a ton of different meals with our entire family and it’s always delicious and different every time. It’s something we did for twelve years, and now that our family doesn’t live so close together we can’t do it anymore”

ANALYSIS:

What I like about this tradition is that it’s completely unique to this specific family but still rooted in the broader tradition of family coming together over the Christmas holiday.  It’s also really sad that geography had to tear the family apart and bring an end to the tradition.  It makes me wonder if the tradition will live on when the informant has his own family, or how the tradition might evolve within this family now that geography is at play.