A holiday to remember
Families like USU student Andy Glenn’s sit around in the dim of a candlelight dinner eating finger foods, such as pita bread, rolled up meats and pieces of cheese, in remembrance of a Christmas feast that may have taken place centuries ago.
Glenn, a pre-med sophomore, said this holiday tradition, the “Nazareth Supper,” has always been important to his family, because it takes them into a setting that reminds them Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ. They also eat partially raw fish, and offer cooked fish to those who won’t eat it raw.
“It’s kind of just reminded us about what Christmas really is,” Glenn said. “During Christmas, you see the trees and decorations everywhere and it’s Santa and all his elves, but that kind of gives us another boost to remember it’s really about Christ.”
After the meal, Glenn said his family reads the story of Christ’s birth from the book of Luke in the Bible. When they were younger, he and his siblings would act out the story with puppets.
Often, Christmas traditions are centered around desserts and feasting. Some students’ families have special breakfasts they look forward to all year. A breakfast food unique to Dustin Young’s Christmas mornings is cheese, broccoli and egg rolled up in dough and baked in the oven.
Young, an undeclared sophomore, said the presence of this food will always be a reminder of Christmas morning.
“I can’t eat orange rolls on any day but Christmas,” said Jeff Niebergall, a freshmen majoring in engineering. “If I do eat one, I feel like I have to open presents right afterward.”
Adding to the holiday value of giving, students such as freshman Rachel Johnson remember their mothers cooking in mass production for neighbors and friends. Johnson, who is majoring in bioengineering, said her mother is a whirlwind in the kitchen before Christmas, making at least 14 batches of classic caramels for everyone she knows.
Classic Christmas movies and books find their way back into families’ living rooms on Christmas Eve, said Devin Harris, a sophomore majoring in business. His grandfather reads 1950s versions of “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” and “The Night Before Christmas,” — both copies have pages dangling from the spine.
“He reads them with the actions and different voices,” Harris said. “My grandpa is sick this year, so it’s been on my mind a lot thinking about not being able to hear the stories at Christmas. It would be weird not to have them.”
Traditions can be as simple as sitting down to a difficult puzzle during holiday family gatherings, said Anna Vincent, a sophomore majoring in social work. It creates a time when the whole family can focus on one goal at the same time, she said.
“Every Christmas we get a set of Legos and make something together, like a castle,” she said. “It helps us be together and have time to bond.”
Lexie Horton’s family bonds with music, she said, playing instruments from the guitar to the piano to the viola, while other family members sing.
“We have this talent show at my grandma’s house,” Horton said, “and we mostly play Christmas music. Sometimes, I really look forward to it. One time, my dad and uncle sang a duet of a random song; I think it was ‘Johnny B. Goode’.”
Some students admitted their Christmas traditions are typical of American culture, but Zachery Pope, a freshman majoring in aerospace engineering, said he doesn’t think having unique traditions is the most important part of the holidays.
“It’s nice to have traditions,” Pope said, “but that’s not necessarily the most important part of the holidays — it’s more important to spend time your family.”
–catherine.meidell@aggiemail.usu.edu