Christmas Traditions

Being a first-generation child of an immigrant family, I got to experience many things my parents and even a few of my cousins never were able to for at least some substantial portion of their lives. One of these things is celebrating Christmas.

First and foremost, they way we celebrate Christmas in my house isn't for the same reasons as many other do. Since we aren't a religious family, Christmas always meant something different. For us, Christmas was about family, food, gift giving and listening to Mariah Carey belt to "All I Want for Christmas is You" on the radio. Of course, many other families celebrate Christmas for the same reasons we do, but often it is in conjunction with some religious background like the birth of Jesus and the like. What my parents tried to do was to provide as "authentic" of an America experience for me as possible, and that meant Christmas was high on the list.

Since I'm an only child, I will admit to having a spoiled Christmas experience when it comes to my life as a whole. For example, when I was 15, I had an obsession with guitar even though I had never played one in my entire life. I begged for an electric guitar and I got one, it was a gift from my aunts. Well, long story short, let's just say it never really left the box and today still sits in the basement. In the four years since that day, my love for guitar has waned and the only use I see for it is to maybe mount it on the wall as some decorative piece of art but that I feel would just be wrong and the music gods will strike me down for a. quitting the violin after six years and b. degrading what is a really nice instrument. As the years have passed however, I've gotten harder to shop for and the pair of shoes, sweater, video game or whatnot that would have been perfect four or five years ago now has simply become money in the red envelopes most Asians would be familiar with.

You might be thinking, "JP, are you honestly complaining about getting money!?", to which I respond, not, not really. Yes, it's practical, it's always gets the job done and it gives me the freedom to buy whatever I would like but there's something missing. One of my favorite Christmas day traditions from when I was little was being able to rip open boxes covered in wrapping paper and solving the mystery of what was hiding inside the colourful packages underneath the tree for the past week. It felt magical in the way I think only small children and those who still feel like a kid on the inside could understand.

While presents always did play a starring role on Christmas day, it was always the family dinner that I looked forward to. Apart from Thanksgiving, Christmas was and still is one of the few opportunities I have to see most of my family at one time. We either stay home with my mom and aunts all cooking something as we all sit at the big dining table or we go out to a restaurant together. Even though Christmas dinner isn't nearly as lengthy, boisterous or grand compared to Thanksgiving, I almost like it more since it was so casual and comfortable. This year we're staying in and having dinner at home. We're doing hot pot which looks something like this:

Yummmm

Basically, there's a pot of boiling stock in the middle and you take raw meat, veggies, seafood, whathaveyou and cook it in the boiling broth. Then you fish it out, dip it in a sauce and eat it. It's a very communal, winter specific style of dining which is really fun to try if you ever get the chance. We've been doing this for the past few years and is one of my favorite Christmas traditions that I look forward to once I'm on winter break.

Last year, I also wanted to try something new so I got a gingerbread house kit that I built with my mom. It turned out pretty nice so this year I got another one, this time a Christmas tree gingerbread kit that I finished tonight. It turned out better than I expected. It's takes some time to build and it's repetitive but it's surprisingly relaxing which is why I think I like it so much (this might also explain why I like vacuuming and cooking). I'm hoping to turn this gingerbread thing into a tradition too.

Success!

With Christmas only a few days away, I still have lots of shopping and baking to do. Being broke for the most part, I'm making bacon shortbread cookies with chocolate ganache for my friends instead of buying gifts. If you think bacon on a backed good sounds gross, I dare you to try something like it and say that afterwards. Bacon+anything is delicious...just sayin'.

What kind of traditions do you/your family have for Christmas?

All the best,

JP