Winter Rituals As A Child and A Wife

I grew up on a farm in the small town of Oxford, Idaho. There was only about 100 people so everyone knew each other. We weren’t afraid to leave our doors unlocked when were were gone. Some winters in Oxford were quite cold. My parents brought a lot of firewood into our house and put it in into our wood stove when there was a fire to keep us warm. My parents took turns getting up at night to put more wood into the fire to keep it burning.

When we were quite young, we took tuns having a bath in a little round tub by the wood stove instead of having a bath in our tub in our cold bathroom. My mom heated our socks on the wood stove to keep our feet warm. She also gave us a hot water bottle to put our feet on in bed. Our house is now about 100 years old, and it was hard to keep it warm.

I believe another ritual we had was drinking hot chocolate. My brothers, sister, and I enjoyed building snowmen and putting hats, scarves, and buttons on them. We used carrots for their noses. We enjoyed riding on sleds and toboggans down hills. We felt the crisp wind in our hair.

My school class had fun one year riding inner tubes down a hill.

My dad used to drive us to see the houses that had beautiful lights within eighteen miles from where we lived.

I enjoyed making red and green paper chains as a child to adorn our Christmas tree. My parents always bought chocolate clusters and boxes of oranges. The oranges symbolize prosperity and happiness during the winter solstice.

Neighbors gave us gifts to my family and also to my husband and I. They were usually cookies I think. This ritual fosters a sense of connection.

My husband and I like to open a present on Christmas Eve. We also fill a stocking for each other with candy and other small gifts. We read the Christmas story from Luke like I am sure so many families do. Then we open the rest of our presents.

I send Christmas cards to my friends and family members every year. Five years ago I made some homemade cards and put a Christmas poem I wrote in them. I love to listen to my Christmas cd’s and cassette tapes. This brings the Spirit into my apartment. I always put a star on top of our tree which symbolizes the birth of Jesus Christ. The ornaments I put on our tree can be seen as a ritual that reflects personal growth and family unity.

As a child and teenager I loved putting icicles on our tree. I tried to put one on each branch. The icicles symbolize the twinkle of real icicles hanging from outdoor trees. My dad would usually try to cut down a tree instead of buying one. Cutting dow a Christmas tree is often considered a ritual by many families, especially when they go out into the forest to select and cut down the family’s Christmas tree. Cutting down a Christmas tree is not only a practical choice but also a way to support the environment and local economies.