The Observation Deck

Whether your holidays have passed or are yet to come, what are some of your favorite traditions?

My family has always made some special food and while I don't usually have time to make the unique cookies I grew up enjoying, I still make the traditional toffee and creamed pickled herring.

Another of my favorite things is being included in the cookie baking day of another family. I'm afraid I wasn't useful this year, but spending even a little time with them is something I eagerly anticipate and relish.

What are some of yours?

My favorite Holiday tradition is the candelight Christmas eve service. I love the message and the music and the brotherly love.

I've been to a wide variety of Chrismas Eve services for a variety of denominations. Our church, West Shore Unitarians Universalists, has theirs at 10:00. I know our church welcomes guests.

I know the Lakewood United Methodists also have a beautiful service that we have attended as well.

I love everything to do with the tree. I always get a real tree, and have been cutting it myself the last few years.

When I was a kid, my mom would get my brother, sister, and me a new ornament every year, usually from somewhere we had vacationed or visited. As my siblings and I each became adults and moved out and got our own Christmas trees, we had a nice little starter box of ornaments. Everything on my tree has a specific meaning to me, which I love.

I also have the same big, gaudy, beautiful, colored lights that we put on the tree when I was little.

My wife and I continue my family's tradition of taking a family picture in front of the tree (dog included) with a glass of eggnog after we've finished decorating.

Though I was not raised in the Catholic faith tradition, to me there is nothing, but nothing like Midnight Mass at St. James. One's soul cannot help but be lifted with the timeless traditions of that worship experience.

On a simpler note, coming from much more modest beginnings, we used to make "Santa hats" out of paper sacks and wear them when we passed out the simple presents of my childhood; and in our tradition this was done on Christmas Eve. Santa would then bring special gifts on Christmas morning for the children.

At no time, has there ever been a greater joy, than wearing those paper "Santa hats" at Christmas for me, with my family, in that old Pennsylvania home with frost on the windows, and love; rich in the air...

By the way, at the 7 pm Christmas Eve. family service at Lakewood United Methodist Church, I will be playing "Silent Night" on the Marcel Dadi guitar that I wrote about, in my Lakewood Observer column.

My children and I go over my dear friends house on Christmas Eve and have lasagna and all the fixings. Their kids come in from out of town and all the grown kids have a chance to spend time together, since they all grew up together.

We just talk and laugh. We exchange presents and act silly.

Then on Christmas day we do our own dinner at my oldest son, with another "adopted" family member. Board games and general mayhem.

I love this holiday.

Happy Holidays everyone.

my mom used to make about 3 tons of cookies ranging from all types of recipes; bosnian, german, american, you name it.

and we usually roast a pig for the dinner with family friends which is something I always look forward to.

This year we won't have those things but we'll still have each other which is the best tradition anyone can have: spending time with those that mean the most to you.

Every other year we're in Virginia for the holidays so I won't get to enjoy my Lakewood traditions this year. But, I agree with Lynn that the Candlelight Service is just amazing. I also loved doing all the luminaries when I was growing up on Arthur.

So generally we have dinner with the family on Christmas Eve, then we get to open one present. After, we head to Trinity Cathedral fort he candlelight service. On the way home we drive back down Arthur to see the luminaries.

OLD and still going strong: Decorating the Christmas Tree with National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation and then setting up the Lionel trains around the tree.

NEW: This year Katie started Elf on the Shelf as a new Christmas Tradition and the boys love it!

My grandfather's three children all had families and lived in the west suburbs, so each Christmas Eve the grandchildren would be in bed, and my Grandfather would show up and the adults would decorate the tree and spread around the gifts. It was a long night for my grandfather. As grandchildren got old enough to "know", they were allowed to stay up and help, but to the youngest grandchildren, it always appeared that Santa had visited and set up the tree.

In the next generation, the grandparents were gone, but still the kids went to bed, and Santa decorated the tree and brought gifts, and the kids were surprised in the morning (even though they knew, if they wanted, that we had cut a tree and left it outside). There wasn't the wide family involvement, as I and my siblings no longer lived near to each other, but about every third year, we would all drive to Rochester, or wherever, for what was more like a reunion than a Christmas. There seemed to be a change in the community about then, with Christmas trees decorated well before Christmas eve, and discarded a day or two after Christmas.

Now my kids have spread across the country, and we don't even get a tree anymore, although I am sure we would if we had visiting grandchildren. So our tradition has died out, but our children live in warmer climates, so now we hop on a plane a few days after Christmas to start a new tradition in, at least this year, San Diego; I tell my grand-kids about snow, but they don't believe me.

Will--- Nice story. Tell your grandkids that snow and Santa still exist!!!