From tree lightings to an early morning hike, everyone’s holiday season is a little different. This time of year is filled with maybe a dozen different celebrations and countless unique holiday traditions. The variety of these holiday traditions and quirks make up the unique magic of December.
Even Dayton for example has a variety of events and traditions that shine on throughout the holiday season. The Carillon bell tower lights up in a display of nearly 20,000 bulbs and claims it’s right as the tallest Christmas tree around.
The floor of Riverscape Metropark turns to ice and will be home to an outdoor skating rink for months to come. And the Dayton Ballet will put on their annual performances of the The Nutcracker every weekend in December starting on the 15.
These are just a few traditions the Dayton area has. But what about the smaller ones? The family dinners and odd traditions that start on a whim and keep going through the years.
Talking to Sinclair students about their favorite holiday traditions gives light to a variety of unique and more common ways to celebrate the season.
Many holiday traditions involve gift giving. Several students talked about how they receive new pajamas every Christmas Eve, or buy presents for all the kids in the family.
One student told a story about a gift that has been circulating in her family for years. When she was a kid she constructed a large clay bust of herself and gave it as a gift to a family member. She said it was very large and just creepy looking.
The family named the bust Bertha, and It’s now become a unique tradition to re-gift Bertha to a different relative every year. The new owner keeps Bertha in their house until next Christmas when it is re-gifted.
A different student told a similar story about a Christmas tradition among her friends. Every year her group of close friends has a nice dinner at one of their houses and then does a white elephant gift exchange. However this evening is far from average.
The dinner always ends with two brothers in the group sword fighting in the basement, one year with pool noodles instead of toy swords. And the gift exchange is completely made of nonsense jokes.
Her friends have exchanged presents like a DVD of Barbie Nutcracker, a box full of potatoes, an egg, a bottle of poo pourri, even a giant inflatable and a plastic sting ray the has been re-gifted every year since the beginning.
Another gift tradition is stockings. One staff member’s family throws a can of tuna in her father’s stocking every year because he always complains they are out.
This same family has always had gag gifts. Her aunt mails them cans of weird food, like seaweed or octopus.
As a child she and her siblings would run out of different school supplies and take more out of their mothers desk. Her mother got tired of this and began putting scotch tape and glue in their stockings every Christmas.
She says these quirky traditions, along with the giving and good natured spirit surrounding the season, that make the holidays so special.
Another tradition many students talked about was going to see holiday lights. One student said her family goes to a nearby church that sync dancing lights to music.
A faculty member in the campus ministry office talked about how one of her favorite things is driving around and looking at all the lights people decorate with.
Some students talked about decorating the tree in early or mid Dec. One student said they once had a decorating tradition that the first two ornaments on the tree were to be thrown on. This tradition did not last long due to the rapid loss of ornaments.
Another student talked about how one year they didn’t have a tree topper, so he made one of paper and tin foil. The family still used the make shift topper for several years.
Christmas dinners are a big part of many family celebrations as well. A common tradition is turkey or ham.
However one of these unique traditions takes a new spin on Christmas dinner, where hand made lasagna is the main dish. From noodles to the sauce everything is made from scratch for the family dinner.
No matter which holiday you celebrate it’s these unique traditions: the gag gifts, the family dinners, church services and holiday lights some people drive hours for. It’s little things like this that can make the holiday season so unique.
Cerridwyn Kuykendall
Reporter