Traditions

I often tease Tim that he grew up doing Christmas the wrong way and so I am now forced to do it wrong too. It has been hard for me to let go of the traditions of my childhood and it was made even harder since Tim doesn't seem to have any firm Metcalf ones to bring to the table. So it wasn't until a couple of years ago that I started to try to blend new ones for our little family.....and it is still evolving. So tonight, it got me thinking....where did my Hubler traditions come from. My father came over from Switzerland when he was of college age so the Christmas things I did mostly came from his culture. I looked up Swiss Christmas and here are a few things I found out(there were more but these are what stood out to me):
On Dec. 5, at dusk, they celebrate the Feast of St. Nicholas. In some villages,a procession of "lifeltrager' wearing gigantic illuminated lanterns in the shape of a Bishop's mitre on their heads walk the streets. The children will put out their shoes and the next morning they are filled with treats.
On the 6th of Dec., as further part of the Feast, Samichlaus, who is accompanied by a character called Schmutzli, go from house to house. They bring out a book telling if the children have been good or bad and consult it. The naughty children are threatened by Schmutzli (or "dirty guy") who tells them that he'll throw them in a sack and bring them to the Black Forest where he will drown them. The children will sing or recite a poem to make up for being bad and then they will have a chance to reach into the sack that Samichlaus carries and get oranges, chocolates and nuts.

It is also tradition to make grittibanz on this day. That is a sweet bread that they decorate with currants and almonds and shape to look like little men. It is said to represent Santa.


The week before Christmas, children dress up and visit homes with small gifts. Bell ringing has become a tradition, and each village competes with the next when calling people to midnight mass. They try to see who can ring the bells the loudest. After the service, families gather to share huge homemade doughnuts called Ringli and hot chocolate.
Traditionally, the tree isn't put up or decorated until Dec. 24th. They put candles on the tree and light them. Christmas carols are sung. If the family is religious, the read the the nativity story from the Bible. And then they open gifts from one another. The tree is left up until Jan. 2 to ensure good luck in the new year.
As a kid, we did the 12 days of Christmas a few times for families. That was a rush as a kid. Leaving a present on some one's doorstep and then running away....way an exciting experience. Then trying to keep it secret when we saw that person later. Ha. Good times. We also would go to a place called Candy cane Lane in PG. That is a neighborhood where everyone decorates their lawns and houses to the hilt. It was always a highlight for me. There is just something about seeing the glow of lights that decorate a house. So growing up, I did the whole Christmas eve thing. We all got together that night and had a fun dinner of finger foods that we loved but never really got to eat during the year......this may have been my mom's way of getting out of making a big Christmas dinner(LOL). We would then gather around my mother's piano and sing carols. Then we would read the Christmas story and if there were enough small children around we would act it out....even going so far as to dress up for it.

The came the best part.....we got to open all our family gifts to one another. After all that chaos was done, my mom would make us arrange all our gifts into a consolidated pile that would then be marked as our spot. We weren't allowed to take anything new to our rooms that night. "Santa" wanted to be able to see everything that we had been given. That night he would come and leave us more gifts and a stocking so in the morning we would awaken at the crack of dawn, we would find more gifts to tear into. It was great!
So with my kids, I have tried to blend a few of my childhood traditions in where I can. We hunt out the best lighted and decorated neighborhoods, we sing Christmas carols and read the nativity story. We also read another special book a few nights before called One Wintry Night. It is a gorgeous illustrated book with a spiritual message. Tim won't bend when it comes to the opening of gifts on Christmas eve so I have tried to make sure that there is a marked difference between their family gifts and Santa gifts. Santa leaves each person their very own sack full of presents. But after reading up on my Swiss heritage, I am sure to incorporate Ringli and Grittibanz next year. Plus, Tim will be in Iraq next year so we will get to do Christmas the "right" way anyhow. LOL. Merry Christmas to you all. Much love, Hugs and Kisses!!