Tag Archives: christmas

Advent Calenders

Nationality: English, Irish, Scottish
Age: 80
Occupation: Retired
Residence: Chatsworth, CA
Performance Date: April 20, 2013
Primary Language: English

Every December, my family puts up stitched pieces of cloth on a wall in our hallway; one for each family member. Our advent calenders have small, wrapped gifts occupying each day leading up to Christmas. Each day we gather together and unwrap our gift from that rung on the calender. On Christmas Eve we unwrap our last advent calender gift, contributing to our Christmas spirit and anticipation for the following day. Knowing that my grandmother (my father’s mother) contributed, I asked her where the tradition started. Through email, she answered:

“The advent of advent calendars (little joke there) isn’t as far back as one would think.  Advent isn’t really from December 1st to the 24th (it can start as early as late November, or as late as December 3rd), but this is when it’s traditionally celebrated now.  The German Lutherans used to count down the days of advent by putting a mark each day on a door, or by burning a candle.  Some handmade calendars began appearing about 1850, but it wasn’t until around 1902 that a German stationer came up with the paper calendar with little doors to be opened each day, with a picture or scripture behind them.    Now they can be paper, wood, cloth, or other materials.

I couldn’t find anything about the beginning of the cross-stitched calendars with the little rings for attaching wrapped-up objects, except that they seem to have started in Scandinavia, where embroidery is so beautifully done.  As I checked out some photos of completed–and loaded!–stitched calendars, they all seemed to have CANDY tied to the rings.  Now, why couldn’t we have started out with that custom, instead of little gifts???

We used to take family trips to Solvang, and as far as our family custom goes, my mom (your Grandma Thelma) found the needlework kits at Thumbelina’s Danish Needlework shop there.   She bought and worked three of them:  blue for Uncle Chris, red for your dad, and beige for Uncle Jeff.  She finished them, bought all the gifts, wrapped them and tied them on, and brought the calendars to our house the evening of November 30, 1963.  Chris was 8 years old, your dad 6, and Jeff 3.  You can imagine the excitement the next morning when the boys discovered this wonderful new treasure trove!  You can imagine my excitement around November 15, 1964 when I realized I was now responsible for 72 little wrapped-up gifts!  I have to give my mom credit, though–she helped not only buy the gifts, she also came over and helped wrap and tie every – single – one – every – year.

Friends who had kids saw my kids’ calendars, thought, “What a good idea!,” and asked if I’d make calendars for them.  I loved to cross-stitch (still do), so happily complied.  It escalated, and I was “commissioned” to stitch calendars for friends of friends, co-workers, neighbors…finally teenage friends of my kids, and at last Jina, your mom, and Nancy, too, and then:  GRANDCHILDREN!   A rough count says I’ve made at least 40 of them.   At first I bought charts, but ran out of printed ones, so used other designs, and finally made up my own.  I did not stitch your calendar, nor Allison’s nor Nic’s–your mom did all of them–and then Tyrel’s!  The last one I did was Bailey Johnson’s, and I didn’t finish it until she was 12 years old.  At that point I said, No more, never, not ever!  And I meant it.  When you have children, their grandmother can stitch their calendars.

I have a calendar of my own.  Some of the kids I had made calendars for decided, when they were in their late teens or early twenties, that they would make me one.  A girl named Louise made a rough draft, and Jeff designed it and graphed it (I swear, he should have gone into that business), and they all passed it around and worked on it.  Gini, Janet, Ron and Imrie, Michael, Jina (I don’t think your mom was in the picture yet), Louise–it’s HUGE, and it’s wonderful!  Have you seen it?  It hangs year-’round behind my bedroom door now.

I shop for the gifts all year.  In fact, I’ll find things in December for the following year.  Discovering just the right thing is the most fun shopping I do.  So please don’t say I’m gracious for providing the Little Things for the grandkids’ calendars:  I’m joyous, is what I am!”

 

Advent calenders provide families with an opportunity to gather regularly.When my sister got married, my mom making an advent calender for him was a way of inducting him into our family. He was able to share in the family tradition and spend time with us opening gifts everyday. Holidays are generally a familial time, and advent calenders provide a nice reminder and build anticipation in the days before Christmas.

 

The following is a picture of the original three advent calender’s that Thelma made for her three grandsons, Chris, Tim (my father) and Jeff.

Cross-stitched

Chris, Tim and Jeff's

Danish-American Christmas Stockings

Nationality: Danish-American
Age: 20
Occupation: College Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 4/19/13
Primary Language: English

The informant grew up in Northern California and has two parents who were born in Denmark.  The informant explains that his Danish parents continues many traditions from Denmark today. The informant details his family’s Danish style stockings used for Christmas at his home in San Francisco.  The informant explains that he learned this tradition from his Danish parents and remembers partaking in it since he was a little kid.  The tradition has sentimental value as it has been something he has done with his family for many years.

The informant explains that for his Danish-American family instead of hanging stockings over the fireplace, similar to most American families, his family members place their shoes outside and wait for Santa to fill their shoes with presents and goodies.  The informant believes that this Danish tradition originated because back a long time ago Danish people wore wooden clogs and somehow the tradition began where the clogs served as stockings.

I find the informant’s story of the Danish-American traditions rather intriguing as you see his family adapting part of the traditions of Christmas.  Placing the toys and gifts into shoes today and supposedly wooden clogs in the past in Denmark gives some insight into the type of clothing and attire worn in Denmark earlier in history.  This information can be quite helpful when analyzing the culture of that country.  It is also cool to know that his parents have passed that tradition on to their children and it will be interesting to see if the informant (the child) and his brother decide to continue those traditions.

Christmas Bags

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Santa Barbara, CA
Performance Date: April 2013
Primary Language: English

“So in my family instead of wrapping Christmas presents in wrapping paper or newspaper, we put them in cloth bags that we reuse every year, and we save all the old tags so every Christmas you can look back and have a reminder of the presents from the years before that have been put in that same bag”

The informant says this ritual was initially a way for her family to be more environmentally friendly, but as the years have gone on it becomes a fun game every Christmas morning to guess what was in the bag the year before based on the note. The informant’s parents always write personal notes with each gift, so there’s a dual sense of excitement and fun in opening a new gift while communally trying to guess what the gift was there the year before.

Polish Christmas Traditions

Nationality: Polish-American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: April 22, 2013
Primary Language: English
Language: Polish

Nationality: Polish-American
Primary Language: English
Other language(s): Polish
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: April 22, 2013

My informant was born in Boston, but his parents immigrated to the United States from Poland. He is an American citizen, but he has spent a few summers in Poland, and his parents keep many Polish traditions alive in his household. He told me about some of the similarities and differences between the ways that Christmas is celebrated in America versus in Poland. This is his account:

“In Poland, little kids are told that Santa Claus comes in early December. On the 6th, you come home form school. And there are gifts under your pillow. I don’t know why Santa puts gifts under your pillow, but he does. So they’ll be like, chocolates or little toys. Like small-scale gifts, like Pokemon cards or a Gameboy game. And the Polish tradition is to open gifts on Christmas Eve, not on Christmas Day. These are the gifts from family members, not Santa. And then we would sing Polish carols and stuff. Some of them are the same as English songs, but just in polish, like it’ll be “Jingle Bells” sung in Polish.”

Analysis: My informant’s broad descriptions of some of the differences between Polish and American Christmases seem to indicate that many of our traditions are the same. Some noticeable changes are that Santa visited my informant’s family on December 6th, whereas December 24th is his usual visitation date in the United States. My informant also mentioned that he didn’t understand why Santa put gifts under his pillow—instead of in stockings, as is common in the U.S.—but to me, stockings seem stranger than under pillows. This is one example of how certain traditions can develop seemingly arbitrarily; placing presents under pillows did not really make sense to my informant, but his family did it ever year, and putting presents in stockings seems somewhat silly to me, but my family keeps this tradition alive. Despite the lack of concrete explanations for these habits, they still certainly have meaning. Christmas in particular is especially ritualized because of its religious and cultural significance. And although these rituals may differ from Poland to the United States, the fact that citizens from both nations make efforts to sanctify this holiday show that these cultures both see Christmas as an important holiday. This common ground seems more significant to me than the specific differences in how it is celebrated; essentially, Christmas is a unifying celebration for multiple cultures.

Christmas Traditions

Nationality: America
Age: 53
Occupation: Pediatrician
Residence: Edina, MN
Performance Date: April 30th, 2013
Primary Language: English
Language: Sign Language, Russian, French

“We have a lot of Christmas traditions in our household. First, the kids are not allowed to open anything under the tree, but they are allowed to get into their stockings while the parents are still sleeping, because the parents were most likely up all night wrapping packages.  There is an orange in each stocking for good luck—a Chinese traditional offering to Buddha.  We added the clever little trick of stuffing the stockings with time-consuming diversions, such as games, art supplies, and favorite movies on DVD, and most importantly, cooking utensils, such as a mini-frying pan and spatula, and the kids “bought in” to the idea of making breakfast in bed for the parents.  The parents act surprised, of course, when the kids come upstairs with the tray, singing “We Wish You a Merry Christmas”.  We, then, dutifully feed the kids bites from our breakfast trays, until there is no breakfast left at all, and no excuses remain—the parents emerge sleepily out of bed, stumble downstairs, and we all enjoy the goodies under the tree.  My husband’s preference, which I happily adopted, is to take turns opening packages, one person at a time, slowly, appreciatively.  My other Christmas tradition is decorating with the little Swedish folding paper-dolls, called Tomten, on the bookshelves, mantel, and window sills.  These mischievous cheerful characters are ubiquitous in Scandinavian households at Christmas time.  There is not a drop of Swedish blood in my veins, but there was a Swedish woman who lived down the street from my mother, who regularly and reliably protected her from a terribly abusive alcoholic step-father when she was a young girl living in Maine.  The Tomten were playful figures, who could be depended upon to come out and dance every Christmas, even when life was otherwise scary and painful—and so these colorful little folding paper-dolls symbolize the power of love for children,  security and resilience in this harsh world, simple magic and good humor!”

The informant told me all of the traditions she can remember that take place on Christmas. Some of the traditions are practiced elsewhere, such as putting an orange in the stocking (which, as the informant said, is a Chinese tradition). Some however, may be unique to the informant’s family. Bringing the parents breakfast in bed, the specific order for opening the presents, and the parents feeding the children may or may not be practiced in other households, for similar or different reasons. The informant talked about the Tomten, Swedish paper dolls, which remind her of her of her mother and protect the house. Celebrations and festivals always involve many smaller details. For the informant, these details all add up to create a meaningful tradition for Christmas.

I thought it was interesting that the informant combined several diverse cultures in her own American traditions. First, she puts oranges in the stockings, which is “a Chinese traditional offering to the Buddha”. Despite the fact that the informant has no Chinese heritage, she still practices on of their traditions. Second, she decorates the house with Swedish dolls, Tomten, not because she is Swedish, but because her mother had a strong connection with a Swedish woman, and the informant wants to honor that connection. I think this shows how easily culture can be appropriated and interpreted. Furthermore, it shows that no one can own culture, because it crosses physical and psychological boundaries.

I think the informant’s Christmas sounds fun and sweet. I like that it is centered on family and the various interactions between family members that Christmas necessitates. The children bring the parents breakfast in bed is a nice addition to the holiday, especially for the parents. I have some Tomten of my own, and they are very playful and a good holiday decoration. My family celebrates Christmas with the extended family, but we do have nuclear family events in the morning, like eating pancakes for breakfast! Family traditions help to cement Christmas as a time for family, love, reflection, and appreciation.