Christmas Traditions
Christmas is a little more than a week away and this will be our first Christmas as a family of three without any extended family around. My childhood Christmases were magical - a coziness in our home, cookies ready for Santa and beautifully wrapped presents under the tree.
I grew up away from my extended family and in the 1980s and 1990s the distance between New England and California might as well have been New England to Singapore. I didn’t know any different. My Christmases always felt abundant in love from our “friends who were family” in California and for everything we did leading up to and surrounding the holidays.
I now understand and appreciate that my Christmases were special because my parents created traditions. Our family traditions have changed over the years as our location, age and circumstances have changed but the magic has remained year after year.
We moved to The Netherlands when I was 10 and moved in next door to a Swiss couple. Cheese fondue on Christmas Eve has now been a tradition since 1998.
We moved to Virginia when I was 13 and we started opening a present on Christmas Eve. I’ll never forget the year that I unwrapped a Bible and my sister, Hannah, opened a 5-pack of thong underwear!
After college, my parents moved to Atlanta and Nick started joining our family Christmases. My four adult Christmases in that house are some of the best memories I have. We ate, we drank and we laughed all the time. We also ditched tons of presents and my dad instituted the Money Tree - he loaded envelopes with cash ($1s, $5s, $10s, $20s and $100s) and my sister and I took alternating turns picking them off the tree. We had to decide ahead of time if we would keep what we picked or if we would even it out and split the “winnings.”
My dad loved Christmas. He wore a Santa hat and a bell around his neck everyday. I’m not sure when they would go on each year but it always seemed a little early to be socially acceptable. But then again, it was a 6’4’’ dude in a Santa hat and bell. I’m not sure that is socially acceptable for anyone but Jimmy Walker.
We found out my dad was really sick two days after Christmas in 2017. Nick and I were living in Vietnam and it was our second Christmas away from Atlanta and all those fun memories.
Despite being really sick, my dad’s spirit was not crushed. Here he is on Facetime throwing his hands in the air and saying “Think positive thoughts!” on January 1st.
We lost my dad just 29 days later and the holidays haven’t felt quite right since. The man that brought the spirit and fun to our household was gone.
I’m not going to lie, it has been really tough. The past two years have felt a bit haphazard - I was away from my family, my dad was gone, I was pregnant and then had a 10 month old, and I felt like I was scrambling to pull a sense of tradition back into the mix.
Covid has forced us to make Singapore our home this year. No distractions of travel or commitments pulling us back to the US. We’ve re-signed a 2-year lease on our apartment and plan to re-sign again. We’re feeling more settled than we ever have as a couple and it’s time for us to start making Christmas memories here, in Charlie’s first home. I want Charlie to look back on his childhood and have similar magical memories of the holidays.
So this year, Nick and I wanted to solidify a few things that we hope will move around the world with our family as we all grow and evolve.
Family Traditions:
Decorating the tree
Nick and I have collected ornaments from our travels since we first moved in together in 2013. My birthday is November 27th so it has been our tradition to get our Christmas tree the next day. Once the tree is up, we pull out all our decorations, including the ornaments. Pulling them out each year, reminiscing about the places we’ve visited and now sharing those experiences with Charlie, creates new memories.
Baking and decorating cookies
Blue stars are the Christmas cookie in our household. It’s a recipe from my mom’s oldest friend in Wisconsin that calls for lots of butter, lots or sugar, almond flour and a blue icing sugar dusting. I didn’t attempt to make Blue Stars on my own until we moved to Vietnam and I feel this year is finally the year I perfected them. The butter content in humid weather means you have to work fast! I’ve also added in Christmas Crack and Peanut Butter Blossoms into the mix. I am still gluten free and dairy free (except butter, thank god) so I’ve had to adapt recipes this year. I’ll share the Blue Stars recipe at the bottom, as originally written a la Great British Baking Show technical challenge, but here’s the link to the gluten free peanut butter cookies. I just had to source dairy free chocolate - thank god for Scoop!
Christmas music on all the time
Thank god for Spotify. We play Christmas music 24-7 the month of December. Our favorite stations are “Christmas Classics,” “Pentatonix Christmas Songs,” and “Michael Buble Christmas.” I also love to light all the candles around our apartment and get our Christmas lights on as soon as dinner time approaches. We have lights on our tree but also every table top in our common area. It makes us feel the Christmas spirit despite living in eternal summer.
Watching Christmas movies
Every year we have to watch Love Actually, Home Alone times two, Elf, The Family Stone, The Grinch, A Christmas Story and, the recently added, Klaus. This year we actually made a list so we wouldn’t miss any of them! We also watched Holidate, which I thought was cute, and Dash and Lily on Netflix. Fun, festive and heart warming.
Seeing Santa and Christmas Lights
This is a tradition that will phase out as Charlie gets older but it’s a must while he is young. Having activities like this on our calendar gives us something to look forward to each weekend in December. When I was young, we would drive around neighborhoods to see lights. In Singapore, we go to Orchard Road at dusk to see the lights turn on but then rush home to get Charlie in bed by 7:30.
Christmas Eve Fondue
This tradition is the one that has stuck and will never waiver. Remember how I just mentioned that I am still gluten and dairy free. My naturopath has given me the clear to enjoy my Christmas Eve dinner because it means that much to me. I’ll just be doing some digestive support before and after the meal to make sure it doesn’t ruin Christmas. I have done my own fondue since we moved to Singapore in 2018. That Christmas, we enjoyed it with Nick’s parents, our friend, Claire, who was in town from Vietnam and her friend, Jill, from New York. Last year, it was Nick’s parents and our dear friends Anastasia, Simon and Mila. This year, it will be Charlie’s best friend, Nora, and her parents.
Special Christmas Day meal out
When we did our family Christmases in California, Holland, Virginia, Maine and Atlanta, we always had a special meal on Christmas. Usually two special meals. I remember one year in Atlanta when my mom made homemade eggs benedict for breakfast and then a standing rib roast for dinner. Like I said, we ate and drank well over the holidays! Fondue is quite the undertaking for a small kitchen without a dishwasher so we have started the tradition of a nice family meal out on Christmas Day. Last year it was a brunch at The White Rabbit in Dempsey and this year it will be dinner at FOC on Sentosa.
This year is already gearing up to be a very memorable holiday and I just can’t wait for Christmas morning with Charlie. I hope he feels the magic! What Christmas traditions does your family have? I would love to hear from you in the comments!
Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!
Almond “Blue” Stars Sandy’s Mom (Pia)
1 cup soft butter
1 ¼ cup white sugar
¼ teaspoon almond extract
6 ounces almonds with skins – finely ground
1 ¾ cup sifted flour
Confectioners sugar
Cream butter; add white sugar and mix until light. Add flavoring. Stir in nuts, salt and flower. Rollout dough, a small amount at a time, on a floured board. Cut with a star. Bake at 325
Cool and roll in powdered sugar mixed with blue sugar.
Do you see why I made the Great British Bake Off joke above? This “recipe” has been passed down and there is lots of room for interpretation. I just love the “flower” instead of “flour”! Cook time is left out - I find its 10-12 minutes but you need to check them. They are ready right as the edges start to brown. Any longer and they taste burnt! The amount of salt is also not there - I do 1/4 teaspoon. You also need powdered blue food coloring to add to the confectioners sugar. I used to “roll” my cookies but now I like to use a mesh sieve to dust the cookies with the colored icing sugar.
This year I tried making them with cashew meal and vanilla extract because I now know I am allergic to almonds. I am happy to report it worked well. I’ll try hazelnut meal next time!
If you try the “recipe,” let me know!
