Traditions

Pete Lawson32 Comments on Traditions

 

My favorite Holiday tradition is reading The Christmas Carol right after Thanksgiving.  I’ve read this little book every year for over three decades.  It  reminds me of the historical Christmas challenges of commercialism, economic struggles, family, and redemption which were with us 200 years ago and will still be there 200 years from tomorrow.  That’s why Christmas traditions are important; they help distract us from the low points of the holidays like loneliness and depression and nudge us towards Joy and Peace.

In the Adirondacks Christmas trees are abundant; most houses have pine trees growing in the front yard.  A local Christmas tradition was cutting down a tree up in Chilson for $5.00 (why pay $12.00 at the Knights of Columbus?)  At our house we had an open staircase to the 2nd floor so a big tree fit snugly in the spot.  The problem was my father liked getting bigger and bigger trees until my Mom announced one afternoon, “Don’t get a big, ugly tree.”  He turned to Mark and I and said, “We’ll get the biggest one we can find.”  That we did just like the Griswold’s and lugged this 15 foot behemoth inside and jammed it up the staircase.  My Mom was livid; it was so huge you had to fight past it to get into the living room.  After Christmas I got selected to take it down, but when I was yanking it out onto the porch the storm door closed suddenly and I put the stump right through the glass.  The $5.00 tree became a $23.17 tree including the cost of the glass + taxes from Aubuchon Hardware.  That was the last year we cut a tree down in Ticonderoga.

Old traditions are hard to break, however.  When I was in graduate school at Duke we were ending the 1st semester and decided a party was in order.  Bill Leonard and I tried getting into the spirit earlier by using Delta air sickness bags for stockings that we brought back from job recruiting trips.   Our classmates Bill Grey and Bob Levy said that was a weak effort and ordered us out to get a tree before the party.  I had spotted one near the Duke campus, so we headed out around midnight to retrieve it.  Initially Bob tried to back out claiming he was Jewish,  but we tossed him in the back of Bill’s Nissan in spite of his whining.  We found the 4 footer, cut it down with a steak knife and put it in the back seat with Bob.  We passed a cop car on the way back with 1/2 the tree sticking out the back window.  I have no idea why we didn’t get pulled over other than a Christmas miracle.

I don’t cut trees down any longer as a tradition.  Ours gets pulled out of a cardboard box from the garage complete with lights already installed.  It still looks nice, but I miss the natural smell of a freshly cut Douglas Fir. That’s okay, as the years have passed our Christmas traditions have shifted away from the excessive to family and Faith.  Several years ago when the boys were in high school Diane and I sensed we needed to return Christmas to its roots in our house, so we started a new tradition each Christmas morning before opening gifts. We gather around the tree, open the New Testament and read aloud St. Luke’s The Birth of Jesus.  Like The Christmas Carol, it’s short; only six paragraphs, but it makes us all pause and think deeply of why Christmas is the Season of Perpetual Hope.  Clearly there has never been a shortage of Hope in our house, thus we are more than happy to share ours with you this Christmas and to all people who need it most.  Merry Christmas!

32 Comments

  1. Yo Pete, We’ll miss seeing you guys this year. Merry Christmas to all. Have an extra drink and think about us. We’re going to try to get Mark and Dan to make soup.

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  3. Our Christmas tradition became Granny’s Auction? All year I make “stuff” also buy at Thrift stores and lawn sales, I wash, polish and shine all my treasures I have bought over past year, arrange it nicely in our decorated basement and give all of the children and grandchildren $300.00 in play money and then the auction starts…They never wanted to go back to gifts since the Auction started 10 years ago.

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  4. Oh I have a new favorite! I love your traditions. It’s wonderful that you have kept those up in your family. Merry Christmas! ❤️🎄

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  8. We have a fun tradition at Christmas…a box of 12 glasses with one of the 12 Days of Christmas printed on each. What you choose is what you sing; no peeking. We love to hear the goofs and whoever gets # 5 can really ‘ham it up’ Happy New Year, Blessings!

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  9. Traditions are wonderful! Having to change traditions as loved ones pass and children grow up can be a challenge. But as you said Christmas is a time for Hope for the future and I say thankfulness for Christmas present and past. Merry Christmas

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  11. Pete, you write sentences that I wish I had written. Clarity, simplicity, and beautiful sounding when read aloud. Thanks for the suggestion about St. Luke’s reading. We all have a need for Hope, and the passage lights that fire.

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  12. Great Read Pete, Merry🎄 Christmas to You & Your Family. Gonna Grab My Bible & Read St. Luke❤️

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  17. Pete, You just took me on a full spectrum of emotions. Your life certainly has been jam packed with some of the most entertaining stories and situations. Loved this post! Merry Christmas!!!🎄

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    1. Jane, thanks for commenting and reflecting. Your house had plenty of traditions which I always enjoyed thoroughly. I never liked your Mom turning the thermostat up to 90 degrees thinking we were cold upstairs, but I’ll give her a pass. Merry Christmas! Pete

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Thanks for reading and letting me know your thoughts!