Merry Memories Answers

#1

On Christmas Eve we attend a Christmas Eve Candlelight Service. Christmas morning, we fire up the wood stove and blast For King + Country’s “Little Drummer Boy” on repeat while the family slowly makes their way to the Christmas tree. 

With the first snow covering the ground and a gibbous moon overhead, we hike up the mountain out back and call to the barred owls, hoping to spot one.

#2

My husband and I leave on Christmas Day and fly somewhere warm for a few days. We use our time to visit National Parks, art museums and botanical 

gardens.

#3

A holiday tradition in my family is visiting a Christmas tree farm during the first weekend of December to cut down our tree. Afterward, we enjoy lunch together before heading home to my parents’ house to decorate the tree as a family. Each year, my mother also gives my siblings and me a new ornament reflecting something meaningful from that year, such as a major event or one of our interests.

#4

One present placed your bed for when you wake up, cinnamon buns for breakfast on Christmas Day and church on Christmas Eve. Siblings exchange and open gifts on Christmas Eve. Each stocking includes an orange, the Feast of the Seven Fishes is celebrated on Christmas Eve, and a small pickle ornament is hidden in the Christmas tree. Children who find the ornament on Christmas Day receive an extra present.

#5

My family gets together to make pierogis before Christmas. We then eat our homemade pierogi on Christmas Eve as part of a traditional Polish Christmas Eve dinner called Wigilia. Wigilia has its own traditions, but Pierogi Day is a family favorite!

#6

One Christmas tradition is placing an orange in everyone’s stocking. We don’t have a traditional meal on Christmas; instead, we have a different meal each year. This year we’re having ribs. We also take a walk or hike at the nature center.

On New Year’s Day, we have a pork and sauerkraut dinner followed by a walk.

#7

On Christmas Eve, my family gathers at my house for a much-anticipated celebration that includes many traditions. One of those traditions is Jesus’ birthday cake, since we are celebrating a birthday. The cake is round, large and white, with pops of bright red and green throughout. It has whipped cream frosting with colorful sprinkles. The youngest blows out the candles after a soft rendition of “Happy Birthday.” It brings grateful smiles to everyone’s faces.

#8

Prior to our traditional family dinner on Christmas Eve, we share an oplatki. This is a wafer with Christmas or religious images etched into it. The head of the household goes around to each family member and offers a few hopes for every person. Each time something is said, the recipient breaks off a piece of the wafer and eats it. This tradition is common in Eastern Europe, which makes sense considering my mother’s side of the family has ancestors from Poland.

#9

Since I was a little girl until now, there has always been a quarter, an orange and a toothbrush in my stocking.  My husband always got walnuts, so we added a walnut to the list. We also watch "It's a Wonderful Life" while wrapping gifts.

#10

Thanksgiving morning we put together a Christmas lego set while we cook Thanksgiving dinner.