Traditions

As a family we have developed some fun Christmas traditions – going to Swanson’s to see the reindeer, camel and trains; getting hot cocoa and walking through candy cane lane; making a gingerbread train and gingerbread men. Some years we have gone to see the gingerbread houses downtown. The week before my grandma’s party and Christmas, it was fun to do some traditions here in Minnesota that I did as a child. Every year we would put up window decals. When we were kids my mom let us put them up. My mom had decorated for Christmas before we arrived, but she left the window decals for the boys to do! She also bought some Christmas magnets for them to put on the fridge and play with while they were here.

  
  

We made gingerbread men. It was fun as Gideon was able to help a lot more – he rolled out the dough and had a lot of ownership of which cutouts he wanted to use. Jeremiah was more into it this year and was able to use the cookie cutters to make a few gingerbread men. It was fun having aunt Kayo help!

  
  

And one of the favorite traditions we did when I was a child was to go downtown to the Macy’s 8th Floor Auditorium Display. Every year there is a huge display depicting a story. As you walk through the auditorium you see different scenes of the story, complete with moving character puppets. I think they are doing the same story every year now, but for awhile they did a different story each year. For nostalgic sake we looked up their list of stories and talked about the stories we saw growing up. This year was Santaland.
  
  

Dustin has been the sound designer a couple of seasons for SPT’s Santaland Diaries. He was chuckling as he saw played out in real life some of the scenes in the play.

 
  
 

It was also fun for Dustin and I to talk about the production elements – how they built the sets, created the scenes, lighting, moving puppets.

  

When we got to this scene, Gideon looked under the floor boards. We asked him what he was doing. He said, “looking to see how the peppermint machine works.” Dustin and I smiled.

  

It was a fun outing introducing the boys to the Macy’s 8th floor!

And one of my favorite traditions this year was using Christmas plates for Christmas Eve dinner.

  
The Christmas after my grandpa Frederickson passed away my parents and Karl and Bonnie started giving my grandma Frederickson Christmas plates. They each gave her one, so she got 2 new ones each Christmas. From the beginning she knew she wanted enough to be able to gift them to her 4 grandkids at some point. So every Christmas it was so fun to see 2 new beautiful plates to add her collection. They all are different and unique. So for around 20 years, this was her special gift. When she hosted Christmas she would set the table with the plates. At grandma’s table there was always an abundance of really good food and lots of laughter. We would often stay up to an hour after dinner at the table just talking and laughing. 

A couple years ago it became hard for grandma to go up and down her 2 story farmhouse, so she moved into town to an independent living apartment. She also stopped hosting Christmas, so she gifted her 4 grandkids each a set of 12 Christmas plates. I have kept them in Minnesota because it is hard to transport them on a plane. So, this year we used some of my Christmas plates and some of my brother’s for Christmas dinner. These plates are so special. At a time of year that was difficult for my grandma after grandpa passed away, these plates and the family that ate off them became a bright, joyful part of Christmas. Good, good memories immediately come to mind just looking at these plates. And knowing every Christmas my cousins are sitting around their tables, sharing a meal together brings such a smile. I look forward to many more Christmas’s with these plates!