by Sherrin Griffin VP, Operations, Sidney SeniorCare –
As I write this column, the holiday season is fast approaching, and although I adore it, I am painfully aware that this year will be different for my family: this is the first Christmas without Dad. All the more reason to practise and cherish the old family traditions that have been passed down through the years.
Our family observes Christmas, and I remember as a child going over to my Nana and Grandpa’s house on Christmas Eve, excited because I knew that all my favourite Christmas goodies were waiting for me – all the time-honoured favourites that made the holiday season so festive and special.
There were, of course, my Nana’s special shortbread cookies, baked to mouth-watering perfection, and shaped beautifully into little green Christmas trees and pink hearts using the cookie cutters that had been handed down to her. No other shortbread cookies held a candle to my Nana’s. When she eventually passed away, my Mom found the old recipe written out in my Nana’s handwriting, but, strangely, no matter how hard she tried to replicate Nana’s shortbread mastery, they somehow were not quite as good. Mom often joked that Nana left out a few key ingredients in her written recipe, to ensure that no one was ever going to surpass her cookies, even after she was gone.
And, the fruitcake … well, I’m certain that the odd penchant for Christmas fruitcake and, even worse, Christmas pudding, came to a grinding halt after my parents’ generation. I hope I do not offend anyone with my resounding “Yucko!!”
What I loved was anything and everything gingerbread, and I even took on the painstaking tradition of making a full-on gingerbread house with my childhood friend at the tender age of 12, complete with pretty red cellophane windows and an interior light. Beyond thrilled at my accomplishment, I lovingly brought it home and placed it gingerly on a display table in our family room, only to wake up the next morning in tears when I discovered that while we all slept, our family dog decided to try out the chocolate wafer path and had worked her way right up to the peppermint bark front door!
Even the men in our family got into the spirit of holiday tradition. Every Christmas morning that I can remember as a child, my sister and I got a box of After 8 chocolates from my Grandpa; that was his “thing,” along with money envelopes “for his girls” that Grandpa perched in the Christmas tree with brand new crisp dollar bills straight from the bank inside.
My dear ol’ Dad made Christmas extra special, for not only our family but other families as well, with his Santa suit that he would lovingly don every holiday season. Waking up in the middle of the night as a small child, I remember seeing “Santa” by our Christmas tree; my Dad was determined to keep the legend alive with his enthusiastic role playing.
Having survived the trauma of the gingerbread incident, I am nevertheless committed to continuing our family traditions, including one very special tradition of making Linzer cookies which were a favourite of my Dad’s. When I make them this holiday season, I’ll be sure to set aside a few for him on Christmas Eve. And, maybe, just maybe, he’ll come back and visit us again in his special Santa suit.
