Jessie: Feeling grateful for warm, sunny weather while it lasts!
I am delighted to host Libby Klein on the blog today! I hope that you will enjoy her post as much as I did! Leave a comment for a chance to win a copy of Silent Nights are Murder.
Christmas Traditions and Disasters
It’s the middle of September so, clearly, too early to start thinking about Christmas. I know it, and you know it. The only people who don’t seem to know it are publishers. That’s why my Christmas Cozy, Silent Nights Are Murder, launches on the twenty-fourth of this month. On the plus side, it has all the Christmassy, cozy feels to get you in the holiday spirit – and a dead body – but then that’s how we murder mystery peeps like to celebrate. We are a strange group.
I’m a big holiday person to begin with. I pretty much take down decorations from one holiday at the same time I put up decorations for the next. Christmas is my favorite, and I’ve amassed a lot of traditions over the years. We won’t talk about the food poisoning we all got from bad Chinese food on Christmas Eve. Or the inappropriate mugs I gave my children one year. Lesson learned: always check the back side before buying. You’ll find a few of my traditions between the pages of Silent Nights. And one I wish I could claim that I got from a reader – but that one is a surprise!
Baking is a big part of my celebration. I still make the cookies my mother made for our Christmases when I was a child. And being gluten-free I have to make all my holiday goodies from scratch so I can control what goes into them. I used to make dozens and dozens of treats to give away to all my family and friends. My first Christmas on my own I baked so many cookies I burned out a brand-new stand mixer I’d had for two weeks. I had a full on meltdown because it slowed down my production as if the Elves were threatening to cancel Christmas if I didn’t meet a quota.
No matter how perfect I try to make the holiday, something always happens to remind me that life isn’t a Hallmark movie. Every year I trim the tree with three dozen birds. And then I got Figaro, and he decided the Douglas Fir was his personal hunting ground and attacked so many birds he finally pulled the tree down and broke half my glass ornaments. Ever since I’ve had to show the cat every stuffed bird before I put it on the tree so it can be approved to keep it from being attacked later. I still occasionally find random feathers floating across the floor.
Then there was the year a strange duo found their way into my nativity scene, and glass penguins visited the Baby Jesus. I’m not sure which child of mine was responsible, but those penguins have returned every year all the way from the artic circle to stand next to the manger.
Readers, what are some of your Christmas traditions or disasters? Let me know in the comments. I’ll give a copy of Silent Nights Are Murder to a lucky winner.
The Wickeds 
My dad ( now deceased) was full blooded Norwegian . Hence we grew up with some Norwegian customs such as making lefse at Christmas time. Since my husband bought me everything for lefse making ten years ago, our grown children have embraced this tradition and each have their favorite job in making the lefse. I’ve grown content just to watch the process and eat the lefse. 😊
I have to mention also a sweet comment from my eight year-old granddaughter. She has maintained for several years her favorite part about Christmas is going to church on Christmas Eve and hearing Papa sing. My husband is quite involved with solos, quartet, and full choir. The six year-old granddaughter says her favorite part of Christmas is the presents. 😄
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I love learning about Christmas traditions around the world, and the grandkids embracing your Norwegian tradition and Papa singing sounds wonderful.
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Since my husband and I are post-children in the house and pre-grandchildren, our Christmas celebrations tend to be modest. Still, since we live in Switzerland (my husband is Swiss), Christmas cookies are a must. Although she’s 89, my mother-in-law still bakes four sorts of traditional Swiss Christmas cookies for us every year, so I content myself with making only one sort: my favorite oatmeal cookies from The Joy of Cooking cookbook. Another sweet that has become a Christmas tradition is homemade burnt-sugar-coated almonds: “Gebrannte Mandeln” in German. They require over an hour of stirring on the stove while the sugar slowly melts, coating the almonds with a shiny, crispy coating. So I wait to make them until my son is home for the holidays and can keep me company in the kitchen and help me with the stirring. Enjoying his company is a big part of the pleasure of making them–but they ARE delicious.
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Switzerland at Christmas must be beautiful! I think making the almonds with your son sounds like the best kind of tradition.
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I remember when I was a kid and it was a tradition to put tons of tinsel on the tree lol! Gobs of it. We always did the traditional cookies and milk for Santa plus carrots for the reindeer for my kids. Newest tradition is for me to travel to see the grands.
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Ha! I also remember cleaning up the tinsel for months after!
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What a fun blog post today! I love Christmas too! One of my Christmas traditions growing up and continue with my kids is we pick a weekend and spend the day baking all kinds of Christmas goodies. We look forward to it every year!
Thanks for the chance!!
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My dear late husband always did Christmas Day dinner. One year, in addition to the four of us, we had two dear friends, and our dueling mother in laws. My husband and the husband of my childhood friend, were transferring the large ham out of the pan onto the serving platter when it slipped from the tongs of the serving forks…and dropped to the floor, slithering at warp speed across the kitchen floor! Next thing, dear hubby jumped on top of the ham to keep the five cats and three dogs from helping themselves to a little Christmas ham! Dare I say that both mothers were horrified!
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LOL. I’ve had my own disasters just like that. They become the most memorable. I can see that ham shooting across the floor now.
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My favorite Christmas tradition is now a wonderful memory. After our daughter was born, it became a tradition that my folks would travel the 40 miles to our home in order to be there when Jenet woke up. Dad started it by going down the hallway to her room after they arrived going “HoHoHo Santa’s been here!” It became such a tradition that as a teenager and not wanting to disappoint her Papaw, but still not wanting photos taken of her all sleepy headed, she would get up very early to fix hair and be dressed in something better than pj’s. Then she would crawl back in bed and wait for Papaw to “wake her up”. Both have gone on to their heavenly home now making it a precious memory for us.
I can so relate to the baking tradition and trying to keep up with what our mom’s did. The first year I tried it all on my own was not a pretty picture in the process, but I finally got into the swing of it. I can remember my mom saying that the visit with whoever she was taking it to was her Christmas present and most times the time visiting was a better present to the recipient than the box of goodies.
Another tradition that started in my family about the time I was ending elementary school was not have a feast ON Christmas Day. Dad said Mom was missing out on all the fun events by being in the kitchen preparing that big meal. He wanted her to slow down and enjoy the parades, folks visiting (Which everyone did going to each other’s home to see what they got and to enjoy some of their Christmas goodies.), and anything else that came up on that day. Since Dad’s birthday was only a week away (New Year’s Eve), we would have the big feast on his birthday. Christmas Day since we had feasted on everyone goodies on our visits, we later would have sandwiches with every kind of lunchmeat and a wide array of chips and dips. As kids, we love it!
Thank you so much for the chance to win a copy of SILENT NIGHTS ARE MURDER! It’s on my TBR list and I can’t wait for the opportunity to read and review it.
2clowns at arkansas dot net
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You are so right about the feast preparer missing out on all the fun! I know because that’s me. This will be my first Christmas with no one to cook for but my husband and I’m already looking forward to it.
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i celebrate the solstice and not Christmas so no special traditions.
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Are there any special traditions that go along with the Solstice?
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Many of our Northern European Christmas traditions came from those closer to nature. You lit fires and put evergreens in your home to bring back the light, which brings heat and regrowth!
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I love the Christmas holidays and I get my tree on thanksgiving afternoon usually. We used to fight over the tree every year but now my children and their husbands help me get it. Makes it more pleasant! I really love everything about this holiday…finding gifts,wrapping, church , parties! So much fun!
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When my kids were little, we waited until right before Christmas to get our tree when they were on sale. Now I’m setting it up earlier and earlier.
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We make lots of candy and cookies, so many we always end up sharing with the neighbors. As a kid we got to open one present Christmas Eve.
I like to wait until after Halloween to really get to thinking about Christmas, except for gift giving. I pick things up all year long since I have some that are hard to buy for, or if I see a good deal for someone’s wishlist item. And some years, this one included, I make a few gifts so I needed to start early to have them hopefully done in time.
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I’m with you. I prefer to start decorating and preparing after Thanksgiving. Although this year with Thanksgiving being so late I’ll probably set the tree up early. I bet your homemade gifts are very special.
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Welcome to the blog, Libby! I also baked my mother’s Christmas cookies every year. Next year, my 2-year-old granddaughter will be having her first Christmas in our house and I can’t wait!
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Christmas is even better with grandchildren! Congratulations.
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Oh, I love the story of the glass penguins in the Nativity. So cute!
Now that the kids are grown, our traditions have slimmed down – but I still put out the Nativity set my grandfather painted and we must make cookies – chocolate chip, cut-outs, and one “wildcard” that is picked at random.
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How special to have a Nativity that has been passed down. And back in my crazed baking days, I used to have a wildcard cookie every year.
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Just try to change tradition and see what happens! We always had a big dinner on Christmas Day, even after a big brunch and everyone picking and snacking on goodies all day, so one year my mom, sisters and I decided to just do appetizers and finger foods ahead of time so we could enjoy the day along with the kids and the guys. We talked about it for months, told everyone the plan, thought we had understanding and buy-in from everyone, HAH! About 4:00 Christmas afternoon, my dad started asking what time were we having dinner and where was the turkey! You would have thought we cut off his arms and legs for all the moaning and groaning about no big dinner, because he got all the guys into the act. Needless to say, we cooked “the big dinner” the weekend between Christmas and New Year’s. Now, even though dad has been gone 10 years, a big dinner is an unbreakable tradition in my family!
Congrats on the new release, Libby! Seasonal reading is fun regardless of the season. I’m always up for a fun Christmas read!
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Ha! Your dad sounds like my husband. If he thinks there is even a chance of skipping the big dinner he invites company with the hopes that I’ll pull out all the stops. And I will.
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Lots of traditions, lots of memories but my favorite tradition was always making a TRIPLE batch of sugar cookies, BIG FAT, THICK sugar cookies (which I started, by mistake, at 12 years old). The cookies weren’t a mistake but tripling the recipe was, oh my goodness, I had cookies strung ALL OVER the kitchen and dining room(unbeknownst to my Mother’s knowledge) who walked in from a Christmas party to the happy mess I didn’t know how to explain my reasoning! But thank goodness she helped me finish them and deliver to neighbors!
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I’ve made that same mistake with my cherry cookies, forgetting that they are tiny little bonbons and doubling the recipe creates a hundred more of them.
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Fifty years ago my mother gave a pink, felt pig ornament to our daughter. We had just bought our first Christmas tree and decorated it all in red and gold. What to do with a clashing ornament that your four year old wants to hang on the tree? Put it on the back of the tree where it can look out the window! We still have the pig which our 54 year old daughter still hangs on the back of the tree. The ironic thing is she converted to Judaism 20 years ago. She still hangs a pig on a Christmas tree.
Congrats, Libby, on your latest book. I’ve pre-ordered it, but I would love to win a copy.
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Ha! I’ll have to keep that trick in mind. Thank you so much for the support and good luck in the giveaway.
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Bake, bake, bake, bake. I have my grandmother’s Christmas cookie recipe, a former boss’s pecan meltaway recipe, shortbread and sugar cookie recipes, and my great grandmother’s Italian meltaway recipe. They were farmers – the recipe uses thirteen eggs! Just yesterday I was plotting out this year’s cookiestravaganza. It’s never too early to start to fill the freezer!
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Wow – thirteen eggs! That must be some recipe. I plan my holiday baking early too. I think I just get excited about the holidays now that summer is over.
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One year, my artificial Christmas tree fell over the weekend before Christmas. It was a problem with the stand (don’t remember for sure what the issue was now). Fortunately, the only ornament that broke was easily glued back together. But, since I didn’t have any way to put it back up, I went ahead and took it down that day. I was about to leave to visit my family for the holiday anyway, and it meant I didn’t have to undecorate when I got home, so I wasn’t complaining too much about it.
No need to enter me in the giveaway.
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My tree falling over was traumatic for me! Of course the only thing wrong with it was Figaro.
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Oh, we had one of “those” cats, too. Broke the top section off the tree entirely. I repaired it and we continued to use it for several years. Cat never bothered another tree in 14 years.
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My husband and I always drive around and look at Christmas lights on homes. We are amazed at how amazing some of them look!!
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I’m fascinated by the ones timed to music. One year we found a yard so bombarded with Christmas themed everything that even the kids were overwhelmed by it.
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My paternal grandmother would make krumkake that would look more like a sugar cone and fill them with ice cream every christmas.
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That sounds fascinating!
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My Sister and I usually have the same type of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day we had growing up. We used to have ham on Christmas Day until one year when we really over cooked the ham. Ever since then we started having pork schnitzel on Christmas Day.
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You’re having a very German Christmas. And schnitzel is delicious.
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My family and I open one presents on Christmas Eve and on Christmas Day while opening the rest we listen to the Chipmunks.
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The Chipmunks are a favorite of mine! I listen to them while I bake cookies.
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My favorite Christmas tradition is that for the past 9 years, my nephew comes over and helps us put up our tree and decorate. And every year we take a photo of him with Milo the dog in front of the tree. It’s bittersweet seeing our nephew grow up while also seeing our dog grow old.
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That’s a lovely tradition.
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One of my Christmas traditions is one I started myself and that is buy most of the gifts for couples from Omaha Steaks it is a gift that is well liked & well received & they want it yearly, also my family sings happy birthday 🎂 to Jesus and me since my birthday 🎂 is a week before Christmas 🎄 exactly.
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I would love Omaha steaks! How do I get on that list?
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One of my family’s Christmas traditions that I look forward to each year is our family Christmas tea party.
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Ooh. I love that! I would have that same tradition if my family lived closer.
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One of my Christmas traditions is buying matching Christmas jammies for my grandsons. They can wear them all of December (and sometimes the pants all year) and it makes for great pics Christmas morning.
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I’ve seen lots of pictures from people with that tradition. What a cute idea.
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I did have a Christmas disaster once! On Christmas morning, I woke up and realized that a tooth filling came off. It was on one of my two front teeth, and it made me look ridiculous. I refused to go anywhere that day and stayed home alone!
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Aww, you poor thing. I’m so sorry.
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Growing up, my family had the Christmas tradition that we could open one present on Christmas of their choice. The rest were for Christmas morning. Hubby Dearest had different traditions. He likes to open the presents we give each other on Christmas Eve. But I always save some from friends and family to open on Christmas Day. When we still lived in Texas, we always had Noble Firs as their branches really reach out. Most years, we had it in front of the two living room windows. He would put the lights on the tree and then move it so close to the windows, that I could not put as many ornaments on the tree facing the window. I got some on the front but loaded up the parts of the tree facing into the house. One day, I came home from work, and something looked off. The closer I got to the front windows, I realized that there was no tree in the windows. I flew into the house and the whole tree was laying on the ground with broken ornaments. Turns out I overdid the front, and it was too heavy. So, TIMBER! He ended up tying it to the curtain rods. to keep that from happening again. Needless to say, we never did that again. In fact, we started putting it in the corner of the living room with one window where it could sit out more and be decorated evenly. We have always had real trees since the 1970s. In 2023, we got going late, so I decided to buy a tree from Balsam Hill as they have beautiful trees, and they were half price (can’t afford them at full price). I ordered a 6-foot Frasier Fir. Looked good in the photos. When it got here. it was a pis-ant tree that cost me $199. It did look real but part of the 6 feet was in the trunk. I put it on a box and decorated it and it was nice, but not what we were used to. I think we will go back to real trees this year.
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I could echo everything you’ve said. Even my own Balsam Hill disappointment. I moved to fake trees after the kids were out of the house because I couldn’t get anyone interested in helping get a real tree. I miss the smell of real pine.
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Hello again dear Libby! I love all your books, and am looking forward to an LOL time with your latest book. I always enjoy reading Holiday-themed cozies, and Silent Nights Are Murder is going top be my star attraction this year! As to Christmas, I am a SuperFan since I can remember! One funny thing that we always laugh about is that my son toppled the Christmas tree when he was one year old…ha tried to climb it unsuccessfully. Fortunately he was’t hurt! Thank you for sharing your hilarious writing talents, and your over-the-top culinary creations that I so enjoy eating. Greetings to Sir Figaro, and JOY to you! Luis at ole dot travel
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Luis, you remind me of when I was five and I overheard my Mother and Aunt talking about my cousin knocking over the Christmas tree. That so intrigued me that I poked at our tree and played with the branches until I’d successfully pulled ours over too. It was not as fulfilling as my five year old self imagined it would be.
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For Thanksgiving me and my daughter go to AJ’s on the Bayou for a free Thanksgiving meal donations if you can. And for Christmas because I work on Christmas we do it on Christmas Eve just a simple dinner at home since losing my father holidays have been hard
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Sometimes simple with family is all you need. Hugs.
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Congratulations on another book! I love Christmas, too. I can’t think of any disasters but our traditions include decorating the tree and putting up other decorations we have collected over the many years.. ckmbeg (at) gmail (dot) com
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Decorating the tree is one of my favorites. It’s a walk down memory lane will all the ornaments I’ve collected through the years.
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Growing up, my family always celebrated Christmas morning by opening our stockings and presents. We then had sweet rolls from a recipe my grandmother used when my mom was growing up. My parents and I still have this tradition, though my brother has since moved to another state with his family. We did have one year when our tradition was a bit different due to an ice storm knocking power out and having to travel to my grandparents house Christmas Eve rather than after our traditional Christmas Day morning.
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I bet the ice storm year had it’s own blessings. Definitely for your Grandparents.
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Congratulations on your new book. This is our second holiday season without my Mom. Last year, we did two things: send out Christmas cards and read from Luke 2 in the Bible on Christmas Eve. I am not sure what we will do this year. Thank you so much for sharing. God bless you. dpruss@prodigy.net
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Those are wonderful traditions!
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We always baked lots of cookies there were 8 kids in the family so we really had fun. I now make my Mom’s favorite cookie mine too which are crescents. Thank you for the chance. Deborah deborahortega229@yahoo.com
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8 kids! Wow. I bet those cookies went super fast.
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Growing up my mom always cooked and we had my dad’s mom and my mom’s dad over!!
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Some of my favorite memories are with the Grandparents.
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Our Christmas tradition is baking lots of cookies. The family is smaller these days and a couple of years ago I got tired of doing all of the baking that I used to do so I’ve pared my list down to a dozen family favorites but if I really like you and your favorite cookie didn’t make the list, I’ll make it for you.
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That sounds so much like me!
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A Christmas tradition we have is to bake a lot. I can make most Christmas cookies but beautifully decorated sugar cookies allude me. My daughter and grandkids will come over. We wear Christmas aprons and play Christmas music. The cookies will be great except for the decorated sugar cookies……they turn out looking more like Halloween cookies! Every year we laugh at how terrible they look. We always think somehow we will nail it this year and we don’t.
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Mine can be a train wreck too! My friend swears by outlining in a stiffer icing then flooding the cookies inside the outline with a thinner fondant.
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Congratulations, Muriel Logan, you’ve won a copy of Silent Nights Are Murder! email me through my website to let me know you’ve seen this message and we’ll connect!
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Well, I learned that if you buy edible gifts for the dogs don’t wrap them and put them under the tree if you expect them to remain unopened and the tree still standing. Also don’ put the tree in front of the picture window if the dogs guard the house. from there.
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One December, I decided it might be a nice gesture to bake cookies for the firefighters whose station is on my street. (Yes, they all just so happened to be very attractive and friendly and I wss single. . .) Unfortunately, my baking skills weren’t exactly the best and the cookies resembled thin hockey pucks. Oops! They weren’t presentable, so I abandoned plan A and went on to plan B. I hoofed it to the local CVS and bought those cookies that come in a blue tin and gave them those with a heartfelt Christmas card. After all, it’s the thought that counts, right?
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