Thursday, December 13, 2018

The holidays with Kathleen Buckley


I spent my first six years in Alaska, where my father worked for the Alaska Railroad. One Christmas there stands out in my memory, a Christmas party put on by the railroad for its employees and their children. I suppose I must have been four or five, and it was magical. It was held in a large, dimly-lit hall, there seemed to be crowds of people, and there was a Santa Claus who gave each child a stocking with treats. The only comparison that occurs to me is one of the Hogwarts parties.

We all have our ideas of what makes the holidays special.  My father liked the idea of roasted chestnuts at Christmas, as he remembered them fondly from his boyhood in New York City. But when they were roasted in the oven, they never came out like the ones roasted in the street.  Once, after his death, I tried roasting them in the microwave. Do not try this unless you enjoy the pop-pop-pop of small arms fire. Also the exploded chestnuts have to be cleaned out of the inside of the microwave. And they still don’t taste like anything.
I was living in Seattle by then, and Christmas traditions were a little different, and I’m not talking solely about the frantic shopping in the malls and the Christmas-y red and green traffic lights glowing through the wet darkness.
There were two songs that defined a Pacific Northwest Christmas: Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer, which is a favorite of mine, and Christmas In The Northwest … which isn’t.
My stepmother and her mother used to cook lutefisk and meatballs for Christmas Eve, and everyone would admire the lutefisk, which lay in state upon the table, and then they’d eat the meatballs. The lutefisk tradition seems to be dying out, though I can recall seeing lutefisk for sale in a supermarket in Seattle.
My mother and I had a slightly different tradition. In mid-December one year, she was recovering from a bad case of the flu and her appetite had not come back. When she began to feel like eating again, my uncle brought her a pastrami sandwich from a nearby sandwich shop. It was the first thing she had enjoyed in a couple of weeks, and it was what she wanted for our Christmas Eve supper. And that was what we ate every Christmas Eve for some thirty-five years, almost to the end of her life, augmented by champagne and really good chocolates or rum balls.
Oh, and the picture of me in a high chair looking at our Christmas tree? I still have some of the ornaments. 

Thanks!

Kathleen Buckley
Author of Most Secret 
and An Unsuitable Duchess

15 comments:

Hywela Lyn said...

It's always fascinating to hear of other people's Christmas traditions -and I love the picture of you in your high chair!

Barbara Bettis said...

Love the stories of your Christmas memories--and the one about the Christmas Eve meal because of your Mom's illness was so sweet. (Great picture of babe in the high chair--you?)

Julie Howard said...

I love reading other people’s traditions and yours seem like so much fun. I love the story about your mom and her love of a Christmas Eve pastrami sandwich — isn’t it always something simple that launches a tradition? Thank you for sharing!

Colleen Driscoll said...

I've never tasted chestnuts roasted on an open fire, but I imagine years ago that was a very popular tradition.

Tena Stetler said...

Frenzied shopping in a mall is exactly right. Loved hearing about your Christmas traditions. It’s fun to know how they got started and how long you enjoyed them. I’ve never had roasted chestnuts and I don’t think I’m gonna give it a try IEnjoyed your tale of microwaving them.Thanks so much for sharing. Merry Christmas!

Cat Dubie said...

Enjoyed learning about you and your family's Christmas traditions. Some years ago when we had a wood burning fireplace, we bought a couple of chestnuts and placed them on the hearth. It took a while, but they eventually "popped." We didn't try that again. :-)
All the best, Cat

Maureen said...

So interesting to hear how traditions were born. I love the pastrami sandwich! How one little thing started years of traditions. We had chestnut trees in our yard growing up and used to have them several different ways. I can't remember the exact method of cooking them but I know one involved taking it out of the shell and then frying the chestnut with butter, and perhaps flour. Merry Christmas!

Laura Strickland said...

What a picture you create of Christmases past! I love the fact that everyone has his or her own traditions, and the way they blend among members of the same family. Personally, the lutefisk sounds pretty good!

Kathleen Buckley said...

Merry Christmas to all! And yes, Barbara Bettis, that's me in the high chair (in our Quonset hut home outside Anchorage, AK many, many years ago). Laura Strickland, I think lutefisk must be an acquired taste. Which I have not acquired, because reading how it's made put me off permanently.

M. S. Spencer said...

Lutefisk--so you're of Norwegian descent? My mother-in-law was Swedish. We didn't have lutefisk, but we did have jellied veal. Also lay in state, pure and untouched. Loved her pickled herring & Swedish coffeebread however, which I still make at Christmas.

CB Clark said...

Love your old pictures and I enjoyed reading about your Christmas traditions. Merry Christmas.

Sadira Stone said...

What a lovely Christmas story, Kathleen! Pastrami on Christmas Eve sounds good to me.

Anna Taylor Sweringen said...

What wonderful memories. Thanks for sharing.

dlucas said...

Pastrami sandwiches for Christmas sounds delightful! I love the nostalgic picture of you in the highchair. My three older siblings and I all sat in one similar to it, and then our own children enjoyed meals there at Mamaw and Pap's house. Thanks for sharing your traditions and memories and stirring up my own. Happy holidays!

Carol Henry said...

It's always amazing to discover how traditions come about. And I love the picture of you in the highchair. What great memories to have and cherish. Happy holidays.