The holidays certainly look different this year, but one thing that can help center us and make things feel just a little bit normal is a celebration of special holiday traditions. Do you have a treasured activity, special holiday dish shared round the dinner table, or religious or cultural celebration that really makes the season for you and your family? Please share your favorite holiday traditions in the comments and discover the customs, memories, and activities that make the holidays merry and bright for Land Trust staff and board:
Karl Meyer, Conservation Projects Manager
So, I've had the same dinner for Christmas Eve ever since I was born! We fry bockwurst or knockwurst (German white sausages) in lots of butter until cooked and browned, and then use the browned butter from the sausage pan as a gravy for the mashed potatoes, then we serve it all with warmed pickled red cabbage! It's a very German tradition from my mom's side of the family and it brings me a lot of joy :) I highly recommend Alpine Delicatessen in Spokane it is an absolute German wonderland.
Jocelyn Aycrigg, Vice President, Board of Directors
I grew up in a family with 4 other siblings. I was the middle child. When we were young, on Christmas day, my parents had a handful with all us kids wanting to open presents and if we did things our way, Christmas would be over in an hour! Well my parents decided that we all should have breakfast first on Christmas day before opening presents. Us kids thought we would not survive the waiting through breakfast to get to the opening of presents. My older sister, Charlotte, came up with a reasonable solution that became a Christmas family tradition. She said she would find a coffee cake recipe that she could make the night before and we could eat a quick breakfast before opening presents. We all liked coffee cake and it can be eaten quickly so it seemed like a good idea. She found a recipe for Bishop’s Bread, which is a coffee cake with a cinnamon topping. It was the solution to my parents’ challenge of trying to spread Christmas morning out a bit longer and us kids could eat quickly and get onto the opening of presents. We all sat down to eat Bishop’s Bread for breakfast on Christmas morning for as long as I can remember and I have continued the tradition with Bill, my husband. Here is the recipe and I usually double the topping because I especially like it.
Jaime Walker, Communications & Development Coordinator
It was never the holidays for me without the special tin of lebkuchens straight from Nuremberg that my Oma would send every year. The cookies were beyond delicious and the tin was a treasure in itself. After searching for years, I finally found a recipe that does them justice and now make my own each Christmas! And for whatever reason, I LOVE the Johnny Mathis Christmas album (much to the pain of my mother's eardrums), and always have it on when decorating our tree :)
Janice Smith-Hill, President, Board of Directors
“While a young student in Germany years ago, I decided to travel from Stuttgart where I was going to school to Berlin for the holidays. I had visited Berlin before, but, Christmas time was special, especially being away from my family. At that time, the Berlin Wall was still up, a constant reminder of a divided country after WW II. During a very cold Christmas Eve Day, I stood at the Berlin Wall, on the west side, looking across no man’s land to the dingy, row apartments on the east side. While quietly standing there in reflection mode, I became aware of a young family standing at the wall about fifteen meters distance. I turned my head slightly and observed the young Father lift up his toddler daughter high enough so that Grandmother, living in one of the dingy apartments, could see her granddaughter at Christmas, if only for a few seconds, before the guards became nervous. I nodded to the family with tears in my eyes, thanking them for allowing me to see that moment in their complicated lives. That event changed the holidays for me forever.”
Nick Sanyal, Treasurer, Board of Directors
Being a multi-national family, our Christmas traditions are a blend of British and Norwegian rituals and those we've created on the Palouse.
My mother was British, so in keeping with her tradition we deck the tree on Christmas eve, accompanied by snack foods and lots to drink. The tree stays up for the 12 days of Christmas. My wife, Ella, is of Norwegian descent, so every Christmas she makes a Kransekake or Norwegian Crown Cake—a delectable confection of almond flour, butter and sugar. Goes great with Madeira or Port.
A tradition our family started some 25 years or so ago was the first person up on Christmas morning plays the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah—on the stereo, at full volume to get the others up--I’m an audiophile, so that is VERY loud. Even Stanley the grand dog gets into the spirit with some well timed howls! Not sure who started the tradition, but I’m an early riser, just saying!