On Our Own

Our Christmas tree was dragged out several weeks ago, but while moving the furniture to vacuum yesterday, several pine needles were sucked up, bringing back, for just a moment, that nostalgic scent of Christmas. This past holiday season will definitely be a memorable one for our family. Although we missed being with family and friends, it was fun for us to piece together our own traditions, which turned out to be heavily influenced by the Ebert and Spendlove celebrations we love. 

The first weekend in December we headed to a nearby forest to cut down our own tree. I have always had visions of trudging up a desolate mountain, locating the perfect pine with axe in hand (okay, axe in Steve's hand) and chopping down our Christmas tree. This year, we found the forest, did the trudging, located the tree, and then to Steve's delight, tracked down the tree farm employees to do the axing. While they tied the the tree to the top of our car, we sipped hot apple cider in a little log cabin. Steve's and my visions were both met!

Every year, beginning December 1st, we read a Christmas book each night and have hot chocolate by the Christmas tree. This year I read stories that were more Christ centered, which came from a book that my Aunt Jean had compiled for me several years ago. Accompanying each story is a scripture to read and a Christmas carol to sing. These nightly readings was one of my favorite traditions this year. However, on the night that we read the Gift of the Magi, a story of a woman who cuts off her hair to sell it so that she can buy a gift for her husband, Sophia snuck away and found the kitchen scissors. Just I was finishing the story, we found Sophia cutting her hair. She explained that she wanted to give her hair away as a gift. How could we get upset? She seemed to have misguided, but good intentions. In addition, we've seen worse. What is a few new layers in a four year old's hair anyway?  

On a Saturday afternoon, Sophia and I escaped together to see Santa. Upon the first sighting of everything red, Sophia burst into Verrill Farm's holiday room, jumped onto Santa's lap, threw her arms around his neck, and announced that she would love a unicorn for Christmas -- a real one. Thanks to the job training that Santa must go through, he made no promises.

The first year Steve and I were married, we invited Stan and Ann over to make a gingerbread house -- from scratch! I think it was about two in the morning before we had finished baking the ginger bread. The Hansen's went home and Steve and I spent the entire next day finishing the house. It wasn't until the Costco kits came out that we attempted this German tradition again. A season can't go by without decorating a gingerbread house, now in kid style.

For the past two years I have taken the kids to the Concord Museum for their Family Trees Celebration. Thirty trees throughout the museum are decorated and each tree's theme matches a children's book. We stop at every tree and read the corresponding books, spending several hours at the museum. This year some of the books we read were The Very Hungry Caterpillar, A Pair of Red Clogs, Tops and Bottoms, and the book that accompanied our favorite tree, The Snowy Day. We always love to talk about how the decorations on the trees relate to the books. Afterwards we stop for cookies and hot chocolate in one of the cafes on Concord's quaint Main Street.

On Christmas Eve I headed into Boston with Emilie, Jonathan, Annelise and Sophia. Emilie and Annelise could not bear to forgo Grandma Gretta's tradition of taking the girls to the Nutcracker Ballet. Although we missed having Grandma with us, we enjoyed all the beauty and excitement of the Mother Buffoon, the China dancers and the Sugarplum Fairy. We added Jonathan and Sophia to our group this year. Sophia sat on my lap in awe at the graceful dancers, the changing scenery and the colorful costumes. To my surprise, Jonathan had actually read a copy of the Nutcracker that we have on one of our bookshelves. On the way to the performance, he explained to all of his sisters the story in detail and even corrected them in some misunderstandings that they have had. Jonathan loved the performance. However, he made it clear that his favorite part was the Russian dancers and that it was difficult to sit through the Sugar Plum Fairy and the Land of Sweets.

When we returned home, Steve and I went to work preparing for Christmas Eve dinner. Grandma Ebert always makes an elegant dinner, another tradition that we could not forgo. We pulled out our best china and silver and baked Marilee's rolls, Grandma's pomegranate jello, a great new brussel sprout dish, which my children actually love, and of course, mashed potatoes. I warned Steve in advance that I would not be making roulade, the traditional Christmas Eve German meal that Steve looks forward to all year. I agreed to the next best option, fillet of beef with Gorgonzola sauce. We placed a gift, which was a caramel apple this year, at each place setting, a tradition which has been carried down from Steve's Grandma Milne.

During dinner, the Dolan's from our ward carolled to us. What a sweet surprise. Somehow it made us feel not quite as alone on Christmas Eve. 

After dinner we began our Christmas Eve performance. Following in Grandma Spendlove and Grandma Calder's tradition, we began the night with a talent show. On the piano, Annelise played Jingle Bells, Jonathan played Away in the Manger and Emilie played Minute I. Sophia did her rendition of Clara from the Nutcracker and Ezra made various animal sounds on cue, along with some car and truck sounds as a bonus!

While Steve and I had been preparing dinner, the kids went to the basement and became play writes, costume designers, researchers and performers. With no help from Steve and me, they came up with a Nativity scene, complete with props, scripture references and costumes! It was such fun to see their interpretation of Christ's birth. Other than Joseph being quite domineering, Mary tugging on and pounding the baby when she didn't get her way and a wandering shepard, we were quite impressed with the performance. 

Thanks to Grandma Ebert, we still were able to open our traditional Christmas nutcracker and pajammas. The kids were concerned that they may miss out on this tradition. They love their Christmas jammies and were so excited when we pulled out Grandma's gift. Steve and I also couldn't wait to add our new nutcracker to our collection, another tradition carried down from Grandma Milne.

To end the night, we had peppermint ice cream pie and the children listened intently to The Night Before Christmas, the poem that Uncle Scott always reads on Christmas Eve at Grandma Rose's house. The children were soon off to bed and Steve and I had a few minutes to sit in front of our beautiful tree before we were off to finish our Christmas Eve chores.

On Christmas morning we followed in traditional Ebert fashion and lined the kids up youngest to oldest. They made their progression down to the family room, located their stockings and pulled out baseball cards, comfy spa socks, jars of bubble bath and books of lifesavers. Steve and I still get to enjoy our own stockings, which my mom sent, keeping with tradition. We pulled out a potato ricer, whipping cream dispenser, Ina Garten cookbook, cologne, biography and other fun items. 

We spent the remainder of Christmas day playing with the gifts that we opened. Sophia and Annelise circled through the house with their American Girl dolls, Emilie enjoyed her music, Jonathan and Steve played the Wii, with spurts of the girls joining in, and Ezra spent chunks of the day making baskets and hitting his baseballs.(He insisted on using the wrong end of the bat and finding more joy in completely knocking over the T-ball stand than hitting the baseballs with any percision!) We appreciated so much the effort that our family put forth in helping us experience our favorite family traditions despite being miles away. We prefer and love being with family and friends at Christmas. However, this year gave us the opportunity to celebrate the holidays Steve and Camille style.