Photo: Five Furlong/Flickr
In 1947, when my Jewish father told his Jewish mother he was marrying a non-Jewish woman, my grandmother said: "I'm going to kill myself." Fortunately, she didn't follow through. Her survival provided our family with its most enduring Christmas tradition. Every year, mom and the kids would come home with a massive tree, far too big to fit comfortably in the living room. We would have to anchor the beast with rope, bricks and cinder blocks. The rope would often stretch across the living room and wrap around table legs and chairs. Quite often, my Bubbe (Yiddish for "grandmother,") would trip on the rope, causing the tree to crash to the floor. Hours of reconstructive engineering would follow. We all felt bad about her tripping, but years later, the grandkids began to wonder if the crashing Christmas trees had less to do with a lack of vision and more to do with a religious opinion …
Regardless, we all remember Bubbe and her marvelous personality when the Christmas tree goes up and when it comes down, which makes for a lovely holiday memory.
Silly or somber, elaborate or simple, every family creates their own unique ways of finding joy and warmth in the midst of winter. Our annual Seattle's Child tradition is to share your holiday traditions so we can celebrate and rejoice together that every family in our community is a one-of-a-kind creation forged from the past and building a brighter future for our kids.
Read about more of our family holiday traditions and holiday happenings here.
