Christmas is just around the corner, which means some of my favourite traditions are coming up. There are some things that my family does around Christmastime, year after year, that I can’t imagine the holiday season happening without. Here are my favourite traditions!
Cutting the Christmas Tree
For all my life, my family has had a real Christmas tree in our living room during the holidays. Not only does it have to be a real tree, but it also has to be a blue spruce. If it’s any other type of tree, the “Christmas smell” is off. The blue spruce gives off the best tree scent, and I will argue this fact for the rest of my life. Furthermore, we don’t just buy our real Christmas tree from Canadian Tire or another store, but we go to a farm that is at least a 30-minute drive from our house. The tree selection and cutting process has to be one of the funniest experiences. Everyone in my family finds a tree they like, and we argue about which one we should take home. The criteria we look for are height, colour and fullness. When we finally settle on one, we strap it to the roof of our van and drive it home. Getting it inside the house is a whole other crazy process that I won’t waste time getting into.
11 pm Christmas Eve Church Service
On Christmas Eve, my family goes to church for an 11 pm service. This has been a tradition since I was a baby and Christmas isn’t complete without this, so it was weird not being able to go in 2020 because of the pandemic. We attend the service just before 11 pm, after a long trip home from my aunt’s house, which is where we always celebrate Christmas with my extended family on the 24th. As a little kid, I would show up to church so sleepy – but that good kind of sleepy where you have the giggles. I love the service so much because we sing Christmas songs and hear a part of the Christmas story. My favourite part is when they turn off all the lights at the end of the service and we light candles while singing “Silent Night”. The best part about this is once the song is done, it’s past midnight, which means that it’s already Christmas day. Everyone wishes each other a Merry Christmas, and then we go home and pass out in our beds – which is a good thing because I don’t think I could sleep on Christmas Eve if I went to bed any earlier.
Angels vs. Santa
There are a few times that my family’s Hungarian traditions come out, and Christmas is one of those times. On December 6th, we put our fancy black shoes in front of the fireplace and wake up with chocolates in them from Saint Nicholas (which is basically Santa). On the 25th, instead of Santa, the angels come. My parents really played this up when we were little and started leaving chocolates on the windowsill from the angels throughout December. On Christmas day, some of the adults would take all the kids out to “look for angels” while the rest of the adults would put out the gifts. My dad would always pretend that he could see the angels and when he pointed towards where he “saw” them, they were never there! As a little girl, I was always so upset that I couldn’t see them as my dad could… I wonder why! The angels also made Christmas at my house seem a little bit more special and different than Christmas at my friends’ houses. When some of my friends would let slip that they found out their parents were Santa, the magic stayed alive for me because I believed in the angels instead. My parents actually had to tell me that they were the angels (I remember the moment very clearly… I think I was lowkey traumatized) because I was getting too old and my twin brother already found out.
Cookie Making
Last but not least, is the huge production that is Christmas cookie making at the Pandy household. We make the same five different kinds of cookies each year… and there’s probably around a minimum of 50 of each type of cookie. That means we make approximately 250 cookies in total, which I now realize is somewhat insane. They last well into January, which helps with the seasonal depression. Obviously, it takes more than a day to make all 250 cookies, but the process is always so fun. My mom, my sister and I (and sometimes my brother helps with decorating) put on some Christmas music and spend many hours baking. My mom also says that if we are in a bad mood when we are baking, the cookies won’t come out well – which is why we make sure that we have lots of fun.
Everyone has lots of traditions during the holiday season, which is why I think it’s the best time of the year. You get to hang out with your family, not stress about school and just enjoy the magic of the season. I think traditions also make you feel like a kid again, which brings a certain kind of joy that’s hard to capture in our busy lives. I love these traditions that my family has created over the years, and I’m so excited to bring bits and pieces of them to my future family.