We’re mid-way through the holiday season and Saturday Night Genealogy Fun is here once again. Randy Seaver given us Part 2 of the topic Holiday Celebrations and Memories.

1)   Today’s challenge is to share memories of December holiday gatherings and celebrations with your families (as a child, a young adult, a parent, a grandparent, a great-grandparent, an aunt or uncle, a nibling, a cousin, an in-law)!  

2)  Pick two or three questions from the list in my blog post:  Ask AI:  “What questions can I write about concerning family gatherings and celebrations during the December holidays?”  Use different questions from the list that you didn’t use last week.

Here are my choices:

Do you think gatherings today are similar to those your ancestors might have had?

My answer to this would depend on which side of my family was celebrating Christmas.

My family’s current Christmas celebration involves all the close family members who live near to each other. The family isn’t overtly religious and our traditions of tree trimming, Christmas cards, gift giving and the Christmas meal are very much like those of my maternal grandparents and their ancestors, although Christmas today is much more commercialized than, say, in the early 20th century or late 19th century. We also tend to do a lot of reminiscing about family members now gone and the fun of past Christmases spent with them.

The paternal side of my family, being Carpatho-Rusyn and Byzantine Catholics have very different traditions followed during the holidays with Christmas very much centered on Jesus’s birth, church events and extended family get-togethers.

In fact, Nana’s village was/is so small that the entire village goes to church on Christmas Eve.

I have to admit that I think the Byzantine Catholic side of the family celebrates in true Christmas season ways – it brings to mind the saying that Jesus is the reason for the season, which seems to be somewhat forgotten in modern American times.

Do you own or display any heirlooms, decorations, or items that belonged to your ancestors during the holidays?

There are two holiday mementos that come to mind. I have distinct memories of decorating our Christmas tree when I was growing up in the 1950s in Passaic, New Jersey. I remember plug in lights with thick heavy electrical cords, ornaments that were clipped to the Christmas tree, such as birds, and I remember the shiny ornaments. Through the years, the old lights were tossed due to safety issues, clips broke and glass ornaments were dropped.

However, one ornament in my collection today is probably older than I am. It’s lost its glow and the sparkly mica is mostly gone, but it’s family history for sure!

The second item is a white ceramic Christmas tree made by my mother-in-law in the early 1980s when they were all the rage. My son loves that ceramic tree and he’s in his 30’s.

We also have several small items like cross stitched framed Christmas stocking given to my son by his grant aunt Barbara when he was born, and assorted vintage tree ornaments inherited from both my and my husband’s family.

That’s it for this week’s Christmas challenge. Thank you, Randy!