Holiday Traditions
In my family when I was young, there were my parents, my two older sisters, and me. My grandparents had passed away prior to me being born and my half-brother was not to be discovered until I was 62 years old. My mother had two older brothers and two older sisters; my father only had one younger brother. Other than my Uncle Hugo (my mother’s oldest brother) and his family, who lived in the same apartment building we did, I didn’t get to see my other Aunts and Uncles and their families very often though they all lived in New York City (Manhattan, Queens, and Nassau County in Long Island). One reason for not seeing our extended family more often was that my parents didn’t drive. The only way to visit our relatives was for someone else to take us by car, or we’d go by subway, which in some cases was about an hour trip with at least one transfer to another train. Being the youngest I didn’t relate very much with my cousins.
Most of our holiday get-togethers and traditions were just with my immediate family.
I do remember having Thanksgiving at our apartment, where on occasion my Uncle Kurt (my father’s brother) and his family would visit from Queens. I can remember going outside and playing football catch with my cousin Peter in the grassy part of Manhattan College, which was across the street from our apartment building. Peter was my closest cousin in age (I½ years older than me). That’s about all I remember about Thanksgiving. I’m sure we had turkey, bread stuffing, and cranberry sauce, which my mother prepared, but that’s it.
For Chanukah, I do remember lighting candles at home. I can see the menorahs we had and the tray that they were put on in my mind. As to gifts I only remember getting one gift for all of Chanukah, not one each night. My sister may remember it differently.
Even though we were Jewish we still got in on the gift part of Christmas. We would get together at some point close to Christmas with other families that had young children in our apartment building. My sister, Leslie, remembers this occurring in the lobby of the building, whereas I remember it taking place in the recreation room on the 5th floor of the building, right beyond the apartment where the superintendent of the building, Mr. Flynn, lived and where birthday parties and events were held. While the parents socialized, the kids played games. At some point, Santa arrived to deliver gifts to all the kids there, regardless of their religion. Santa was in fact, Mr. Flynn and it wasn’t until I was much older, that I found out that the gift I received from him was purchased by my parents.
On Christmas Day, we’d visit our next-door neighbors, the Keltons, and later on when they moved out from our apartment building, at their house, where gifts were exchanged. That for the most part was my Christmas experience each year. As traditions go, I certainly enjoyed it.
Nowadays, with my own family, we celebrate both Chanukah (my background) and Christmas (my wife’s background). We light the candles every night of Chanukah, either at our house or at someone else’s or virtually, with my son and his wife living in Virginia and Covid restrictions and all. It is good to see each other even if it is not in person. For Christmas, we celebrate at my daughter-in-law’s parent’s home. We have had both real and artificial trees at our house. Presents are given all around on each Christmas day, and we share time together with family, which is the most important part of it all.
