Refried Beans, Tamales, A Steaming Bowl of Posole, Pizza. It must be Christmas!

In past posts I have told you about Christmas in the Ideker house when I was growing up. Today I am going to share with you a little about Christmas in the Ideker house now. Merriam Webster defines traditions as, the handing down of information, beliefs, and customs by word of mouth or by example from one generation to another without written instruction: an inherited, established, or customary pattern of thought, action, or behavior (such as a religious practice or a social custom)

As I have said before, holidays, especially faith based holidays, lean heavily on tradition. You tend to follow what your parents did, who in turn did what their parents did and so on. In some ways you become “tied” by the traditions you follow. It’s not necessarily a bad thing – following tradition has a way of insuring history is not lost and traditions can be an important part of establishing a family’s identity. Traditions can be something as simple as the Advent wreath you use year after year. At some point it is no longer just an Advent wreath, it is a part of your celebration every year and leaving it out or changing it would be noticed. Many families set up their Christmas tree on the same day every year. It’s a tradition. Do it a week early or a few days late and the rest of the holiday seems a little off.

Maybe some of the best Christmas traditions involve foods. Baking is a huge Christmas tradition in many households. Sugar cookies, baklava, fudge and peanut brittle are all tasty treats that have been traditional Christmas fare for a lot of families. In our case those traditional baking sessions have been replaced by ginger bread house decorating with the granddaughters. Those sessions are of course gently guided by Grandma. It’s fun to watch as the girls design their houses and begin the decoration. Most of the time it’s one gum drop in the mouth for every one that finds it way onto the house but hey, that’s half the fun. By the time it is over there is sometimes more colored frosting and candy on the girls than on the houses but it is all worth it. Nothing beats the fun of watching them walk out of the kitchen, carrying their own personally decorated ginger bread house. Besides, it is now an annual Christmas event with Grandma. It’s a tradition!

Our family has always been a little whacky when it comes to Christmas food. We usually forego what many families consider traditional Christmas fare. Terrie isn’t a big fan of turkey and she doesn’t care to prepare a ham or roast beef. She also doesn’t enjoy green bean casserole, scalloped potatoes, mashed potatoes and gravy, candied yams or jello salad (any of this sound familiar?) Instead, we opted to establish our own traditional Christmas meal and quite frankly, it’s a mess. Part of it is based on what my Dad did every year. Christmas dinner in our house consists of red and green chile tamales covered with a fried egg and then bathed in green chile. The tamales are accompanied by a bowl of red chile Posole and maybe a helping of refried beans. If you are still hungry there is also sausage Pizza to give everything a true international flare. Our daughter-in-law has added her own touch with the addition of clam chowder. Yikes, what a mishmash. Oh so good though.

Our culinary adventure isn’t the only Christmas tradition we try to sustain. There is one item that has gained its own celebrity amongst those on our Christmas card list. It is titled “The Dreaded Ideker Family Christmas Letter” and it has now been finding its way into mailboxes for some 30 years. It all started out as a joke. Being the cynic I am, I started making fun of the nice Christmas letters people would include with their Christmas cards. Terrie thought I was being a jerk but I mean, do people really think you want to read about their Aunt Gertrude, who you have never met and don’t want to meet, and her bunion surgery? Or how about little Johnny and the participation ribbon he got for playing goalie on the 6 year old soccer team. Then there is the mid-winter cruise to who knows where. Leave all that stuff for FaceBook – that’s where it belongs. Anyway, again, being the wise guy cynic I am, I thought to myself, “how about starting the anti-Christmas letter Christmas letter?” If I recall correctly, when I showed the first draft to Terrie she almost threw me out of the house. I obviously chose the wrong subject for my first letter. Years ago Terrie, every Christmas, hosted a cookie exchange with a group of her close friends. The first letter I wrote was about her fat, greedy husband (me) and ornery kids eating most of her cookies before she could split them up between her girlfriends and there might have been a few sentences about the questionable quality of some of the offerings from the other ladies. Of course being the smart alec I am I couldn’t stop there. I had to make a few comments about some of the boring, self-serving Christmas letters we would get every year. Man, you talk about getting in trouble. Mrs. Claus had nothing under the tree for old Dougie boy that year – if you know what I mean. I recovered by softening the letter a little and a new tradition was born. Now I get complaints if the letter isn’t out by the first week of December.

One of the most important Christmas traditions in our house is attending the Christmas Eve candle light service at our church. Many years ago, before I accepted my God breathed role as spiritual leader of our family, we would attend a Christmas Eve candle light service because our oldest son insisted on it. Funny enough, the service he wanted to attend wasn’t even at the church we attended most of the time. It was a tradition for him and he loved it. His enjoyment was evident in his eyes as the sanctuary would slowly light up with the passing of the flame from one candle to the next. It was not Christmas Eve for him without attending that service. Today the service we attend might not even be on Christmas Eve which is OK. You see, it isn’t the specific day that is important, it is the fact that we celebrate the human birth of the creator of the world, something we should do every day. God chose to put on human flesh, to walk amongst us, to establish a new covenant with His people, to save us from ourselves through His birth, death and resurrection.

“Traditionally” we think of the story of Christ’ birth as a “New Testament” story but the reality is, the advent of Christ birth was prophesied multiple times in the Old Testament starting all the way back in Genesis and he has existed since the beginning of time. The prophet Isaiah predicted Christ’ birth in Isaiah 7:14 when he said, ““Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” That was approximately 700 years before the birth.

So as you go through this season and every season in your life, establish and celebrate tradition, it is an important part of who you and your family are. Above all, please include Jesus in your tradition and your celebration. You will find that traditions take on new meaning when He is included in them.