Your Holiday Traditions

Keeping those Elves Busy---

When Ainsley was little, and I needed a little “push” to get ready - and she was somewhat unwilling to part with her overused/broken/no longer her age toys, I decided to do something called “Elves Night”. On Dec 15 Ainsley, feeling generous with Christmas spirit, would hang a special stocking, fill it with her less loved/used toys, with bigger items underneath, and leave some cookies for the Elves who would come overnight and take those things back to the North Pole to be fixed up and given to other children for Christmas. It “cleared the deck” for the gifts Santa was bound to bring 10 days later, and made her feel like she was doing something good.

- Karen McPherson, Chatham, MA

The Feast of the Seven Fishes ----

On Christmas Eve, we grew up with the feast of the seven fishes. In our household that was: shrimp cocktail, cured salmon, crab cakes, scallops wrapped in bacon, broiled cod, fried calamari and tuna in tomato sauce. - Thomas Bergamini, San Diego, CA

“You’ll Shoot Your Eye Out!” ---

Corina and I started our Christmas Eve tradition as a couple in 2015. I have always watched “A Christmas Story” since I was a kid starting at 7pm on TNT for the 24 hour marathon and falling asleep to it. I’ve carried on that tradition with our 2 pups, Riley and Morgan and now this year our 8 month old Nolan, will be introduced to “A Christmas Story,” After we shut the bakery (Marion’s Pie Shop) down, we place our Chinese food order to be picked up on the way home. We put our matching family PJs on (yes our pups have their own), open one gift to each other and continue to watch our movie. Our tradition is simple and we wouldn’t want it any other way. -Ashley Stearns, Chatham