• mail
  • facebook
  • instagram
  • pinterest
  • twitter
  • wikipedia
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • About
    • Privacy
    • Disclosure
    • Contact
  • Life
    • Wellness
    • Lifestyle
    • Beauty
    • travel
    • Books
  • Home
    • Interiors
    • Decor
    • Food
    • Entertaining
  • style
    • Finds
    • Holiday Guides
  • Shop
    • Shop My House
    • Fashion Finds
    • Mad for Plaid Finds
    • Health & Wellness Finds
  • Blog Friends

Pinecones and Acorns

  • About
    • Privacy
    • Disclosure
    • Contact
  • Life
    • Wellness
    • Lifestyle
    • Beauty
    • travel
    • Books
  • Home
    • Interiors
    • Decor
    • Food
    • Entertaining
  • style
    • Finds
    • Holiday Guides
  • Shop
    • Shop My House
    • Fashion Finds
    • Mad for Plaid Finds
    • Health & Wellness Finds
  • Blog Friends

My Favorite Christmas Memories and Traditions

December 24, 2017 By Elizabeth@ Pine Cones and Acorns 3 Comments

Good morning! The days are winding down to Christmas and as I keep saying to myself and on this blog I want to slow down and enjoy it. For me Christmas is not about the gifts, its about traditions, family, friends, savoring the spirit of the season, the moments and the memories.

One of my fondest memories is waiting for the JCPenny and Sears catalogs to arrive each year. My siblings and I would pour over the pages making our lists for Santa. In our little world those catalogs were like the Neiman Marcus fantasy catalog, there were so many interesting and exotic things, cars for kids, life sized playhouses, canopy beds(still my dream bed), beautiful princess dresses with matching  tiaras and so much more.  I smile just thinking about those dog eared pages. 

My mother loves Christmas and she always decorates two trees downstairs, one in the living room which is more formal and one in the family room that is filled with all of the ornaments that my siblings and I have made in our lifetime. You know the ones as I am sure that you have a few as well; the ones made from dough and painted garish colors, the ones made with buttons and ribbon from my grandmothers button box, the funny ones we gave to her each year with little characters and our names written one which went from the four of us, to the addition of dogs and grandkids. I never tire of looking at those ornaments and when I do I can see in my minds eye exactly where we were when we made them.

My grandmother came for a family of 14 children and she had 10 herself, in those days people did all of their own baking and at Christmas they upped their game as they say. I savor the memory of my grandmothers cookie closet, filled from floor to ceiling with cookie tins. Each evening for weeks my grandmother made cookies at night and on the weekends; there were spritz cookies, thumbprint cookies with jelly in the center rolled in nuts, chocolate salami, nut horns, chocolate crinkles and so much more. There was never less than 20 different kinds of cookies and then there were the cinnamon rolls, prune rolls, poppy seed rolls and homemade bread. When were were in town I would happily assume my place right next to her perched on a chair with my siblings and we would roll the dough, flour the board and of course be the official taste testers. 

In my family my grandparents house was the hub of all holiday activity, every one of her 10 children, their husbands and the kids came over on Christmas Eve before midnight mass, then we all walked the few block, typically in the snow to the church. We are Catholic and our family church is called St. Hedwig, I was baptized there, my sister was married there, and my grandparents were berried there. The church was always beautiful but its true beauty shown on Christmas when it was lit by candle light and decorated with swags of fresh greens, lots of real trees with lights and on the left side of the alter a life sized European creche, with donkeys, cows, the 3 wise men, of course Mary, Joseph and the most beautiful baby Jesus. I would stand there in awe after mass gazing at this magnificent sight and I wished and prayed that I could take home one of the little sheep. I can hear as I type this the melodious voice of the cantor who sang there for most of my life, I am sure that if he had not sung at our church he could have been a professional opera singer his voice was that beautiful. 

As for traditions we have a few that we do not deviate from. We always have a gathering on Christmas Eve, and of course we eats lots and lots of scrumptious food. We have a dinner for family and friends and we open the presents from our God parents and God children as well as one other gift, typically it is pajamas. We all sit around the two fireplaces, do puzzles, play dominos or we just sit and talk and listen to my relatives tell stories. 

On Christmas morning we always follow the trail of candy from the fireplace in the living room to the  family room where all of the kids presents are. Many years if there is snow there are also footprints left by Santa. After opening presents my mom makes cinnamon rolls and other tasty morsels and we all sit around in our pj’s, watch Christmas movies, eat, play games and then eat again.

Although I love each and every tradition that we have my absolute favorite is driving to see the Christmas lights with my mom. This tradition started with my grandfather, he would take us before Midnight mass and we would marvel at the rainbow of colors decorating the neighborhood.  Since he passed my mom took over and now every year we get our steaming cups of cocoa and we drive to see the lights while laughing and playing Christmas carols. When I am visiting it is actually something that we do most every night, we drive along Lake Michigan and thru the city to our favorite neighborhoods and we reminisce and tell one another funny stories and recount memories of times past. 

Do you have any favorite memories or traditions that you keep each year? If so, please share them, I would love to hear them.

If you are looking for a quick and easy dessert recipe with 5 ingredients than pop over to my other blog Once Upon a Chocolate and check out this No Bake Chocolate Peppermint Tart.

I hope that you have a wonderful day!



Related Posts:

  • Fantasy Gifts and Neiman Marcus Catalog Gifts
    Fantasy Gifts and Neiman Marcus Catalog Gifts
  • 27 Christmas Books for Your Kids and Grand-kids
    27 Christmas Books for Your Kids and Grand-kids
  • The Best Christmas Traditions for Making Special Family Memories
    The Best Christmas Traditions for Making Special Family…

Filed Under: lifestyle Tagged With: Christmas, Christmas Memories, Christmas Traditions

You might also love

  • Chocolate almonds dragees in small bowls sitting on a vintage Florentine green tray with bright green and pink christmas ornaments as accents9 Easy No Bake Christmas Treats!
  • A Christmas Carol with a cup of hot chocolate sitting on topJolabokaflod: Start a New Christmas Tradition
  • The Best Christmas Traditions for Making Special Family Memories
  • pink flowers and a bookMonday Musings
The Little Things… »
« Christmas Eve

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Anonymous says

    December 22, 2017 at 1:10 pm

    Ah, yes, the Christmas cookies. My grandma would make thousands. She had a sunporch that had a huge bed (the cross-ventilation made it the best pre-A/C place to sleep in summer), and she would lay down fresh white sheets across the bed and spread out the cookies, to be packed into elaborate trays that she would give to her favorite butcher, her doctor, her hairdresser….and of course the grandchildren got plenty, too. Thanks for triggering this memory!

    Reply
  2. Castles Crowns and Cottages says

    December 23, 2017 at 11:31 am

    Dearest Elizabeth, my life is finally slowed down now for two weeks, as my Christmas vacation has finally arrived.

    My favorite Christmas memory? They are all living in my mind, my heart, and those are what I open up every year. Yes, my husband always gifts me something very special, and those gifts and moments too are being filed into my memory bank. But the most acute recollections are from childhood, from adolescence, when my entire family would gather around my uncle's table, after having worked TOGETHER in his kitchen, to make a Mexican Christmas meal. Handmade tamales, laughter, dancing, singing, and yes, arguments over how much meat to put into each "package" of masa were always signs of affection. All of these people are gone now, with only a few of us cousins remaining, but split apart by distance and time. Oh, but memories of spices and seasonings and textures will never leave me. Enjoy the flavors of your memories my sweet friend.

    Reply
  3. William Kendall says

    January 4, 2018 at 9:50 pm

    My mother, until late in life, still baked a lot of cookies for Christmas- up to a hundred dozen.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

meet elizabeth

meet elizabeth

Hi, I'm Elizabeth. I'm "mad for plaid", a good book, a cup of hot chocolate and my pups. Join me as I find the beauty in life and elevate the everyday.

  • mail
  • facebook
  • instagram
  • pinterest
  • twitter
  • wikipedia

Subscribe

Do you enjoy sweet treats, good books, and a cosy home? Join me to get updates of favorite recipes, books, interiors and more.

Some posts contain affiliate links at no additional cost to you. As an Amazon associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Full disclosure here. Thank you for supporting the blog!

Search

ARCHIVES

CATEGORIES

Latest Posts

Memorial Day flag in paint

Cindy Hattersley, The Vintage Contessa, Faulkner Books and Memorial Day…Weekend Meanderings

pink peonies in a glass jar

Friday Favorites No. 482

weck jar filled with hot fudge

Homemade Hot Fudge Sauce

pink peonies in a white pitcher

Monday Musings No. 26

Footer

  • mail
  • facebook
  • instagram
  • pinterest
  • twitter
  • wikipedia
It’s Memorial Day weekend and it’s also weeken It’s Memorial Day weekend and it’s also weekend meanderings! I am joining  my friends @makemineaspritzer and @northerncalstyle to share not only our angst about the tragedy and death of the 19 children and 2 teachers in Uvalde but also the things that are distracting us.  I am sharing two of my style icons @cindyhattersley and @contessa_and_her_pig, the @faulknerhousebooks and so much more. The link to the blog is in my bio. To see Juliet’s post and Kim’s post check out their bios for links. @makemineaspritzer and @northerncalstyle #weekendmeanderings #pineconesandacorns
I scream you scream we all scream for ice cream. O I scream you scream we all scream for ice cream. Ok, I’m the one screaming for the hot fudge, I can do without the ice cream. Recipe on the blog link in bio. https://pineconesandacorns.com/2022/05/homemade-hot-fudge-sauce-no-corn-syrup/ #icecreamtoppings #pineconesandacornsblog #hotfudge #homemadehotfudge
Happy Friday friends! Today on the blog I’m shar Happy Friday friends! Today on the blog I’m sharing all of my favorite books, recipes, sales, finds and more. Come over and take a break, it’s a long read. Link in bio. #friday #fridayfavorites #peonies #springflowers #itsspring #memorialdayweekend #pink #itstheweekend #pineconesandacornsblog
Just some of the children we lost yesterday in Tex Just some of the children we lost yesterday in Texas. #angels
How are your summer gardens coming along? I am a c How are your summer gardens coming along? I am a complete amateur at flowers, bulbs, tubers and the rest. You can read all about my naïveté trying to grow peonies on the blog. Come on over and share your gardening triumphs and woes. Link in bio #penonies #peony #springtime #springflowers #flowers #pink #pinkflowers #whiteironstone #vintagefinds
It’s time for “weekend meanderings” on the b It’s time for “weekend meanderings” on the blog. Today it’s all things 🍋. Lemon loaf, lemon bars, lemonade and beautiful lemon accessories for your home and wardrobe. I’m joing my friends @makemineaspritzer and @northerncalstyle so be sure to check out their posts as well. #weekendmeanderings #pineconesandacorns #pineconesandacornsblog #lemonlove #allthingslemon🍋 #allthingslemon🍋
Happy Friday friends! It’s time for Friday Favor Happy Friday friends! It’s time for Friday Favorites on the blog. My weekly series has book recommendations, recipes, interesting articles and finds from the week. Come on over. The link is in my profile.
Cake for breakfast? Ok maybe not the cake but I co Cake for breakfast? Ok maybe not the cake but I could eat a bowl of the frosting. Today on the blog I’m sharing an easy, decadent chocolate snack cake with my all time favorite frosting, Hersheys perfectly chocolate frosting. The recipe is on the side of the can. Link in bio! #chocolate #cake #chocolatecake #perfectlychocolatecake #snackcake #cakeforeveryone #chocolate #chocolatefrosting #food #foodphotography #pineconesandacorns
Good morning friends! It’s Friday, time for Frid Good morning friends! It’s Friday, time for Friday Favorites! Join me today on the blog for my latest book recommendations, recipes, and more. #fridayfavorites #pineconeandacorns #pineconesandacornsblog #flatlay #gardening #books #hotchocolate #chocolatchaud #barebonesliving
Good Monday morning friends. Did you have a nice w Good Monday morning friends. Did you have a nice weekend? How was your Mother’s Day? I’m sharing a weekend recap on the blog this morning along with 5 fabulous finds you will want to have this summer. Come on over the link is in the bio. #flatlay #mondaymotivation #monday #musings #chocolate #hotchocolate #drink #drinkingchocolate #springflowers #flowers #springcolours #blueandwhitedecor
Follow on Instagram

Copyright © 2022 · Pinecones and Acorns · Blog Design by Little Blue Deer
Privacy Policy
Disclosure: We utilize affiliate widgets including Amazon, Rewardstyle and Shopstyle and may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you.