Sailing with Sailer : Traditions Change

Christmas Eve 2023

Traditions change over the years.

I am not a fan of change. And I love tradition. But I know change is inevitable and not necessarily a bad thing. I need to get used to those changes.

Some of those traditions that change are holiday, and specifically Christmas celebrations.

Even though I am Jewish, we do Christmas with "extended family" in New Jersey. It's too hard to explain.

For Chrismas Eve, we go to my Aunt Ellen's. When we were growing up, we went to my Uncle Tommy's but then they moved to Florida and Christmas Eve moved to my Aunt Ellen and Uncle David's.

Christmas Day, since I've been born, has been at my Uncle Gary and Aunt Tina's. They moved towns in NJ a few years ago, but still continue to host.

More than who is hosting, it's the actual events and the people who have changed.

As all the "kids" get older, they have their own families that they do the holidays with, so everyone is more spread out.

In terms of the events of the days, those have even changed.

It used to be, all the kids would get presents from aunts and uncles on Christmas Eve. We'd change into our pajamas, take a group photo and then open presents.

It was also part of the tradition that you had to wait for someone (normally the oldest adult present) to say it was okay to open. From what I remember, that was Aunt Shirley for many years, and then sort of was more random years after that.

Then, a number of years ago, it was decided that rather than everyone get multiple presents everyone, we would do the "White Elephant" gift exchange. This was different. The adults partook rather than just the kids' getting gifts. The gifts varied in types.

One year, I got a sack of Five Guys potatoes. This was perfect for me as someone who loves potatoes, and I picked it without knowing what was in the gift bag until after I had picked and opened it.

Another part of Christmas Eves past was watching either a Christmas movie, like Shrek or The Grinch Stole Christmas, or watching home videos.

There were also Christmas Days where we would play board games, such as Apples to Apples and others.

Now, both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day ends up mostly being just sitting around talking. It's still great to spend time with the family.

There are other memories throughout the years from specific years, but again, different years make for different experiences.

Another part of our Christmas, is visiting other family, specifically my dad's sister and her family.

In terms of other traditions and changes, when my grandmother was living in Jersey City, we would stay there, then, for many years we would stay at an Embassy Suites. Part of this experience was the happy hour and snacks on Christmas Eve and the breakfast on Christmas morning at the hotel.

Then, this year, and one other, I think during COVID, we stayed at a different hotel.

As I said in the beginning, all the changes are weird to me, and as much as I may not like it, I understand it.