FAMILY blog
G rowing up, my mother seemed to have
people who were no longer with us, and to be grateful for
boundless holiday energy. To be perfectly
what we had.

honest, she’s a tough act to follow!
On Thanksgiving, she would start writing
My brother and I would play a couple of Christmas
songs on the piano and all of us would sing. As kids, we
her Christmas newsletter to send to friends and family. She
hated this part – we just wanted to open our presents!
kept up the tradition as my brothers and I grew and started
Looking back, I appreciate why she did this. She wanted us
families of our own. She would ask for recent pictures
depicting our family outings and events, and skillfully craft
the year’s story into a one-page summary. Even though
it was about my own family, I always looked forward to
receiving my copy and reading the year in review.

She was as talented a baker as she was a writer, so the
holidays were a delicious time of year. My mother was
from Germany, so for nearly the entire month of December
the aroma of lebkuchen or stollen filled the house. I can still
smell it!
She also enjoyed decorating the house for the holidays.

We lived in New Hampshire, and my parents would go
into the woods on their property and cut down a tree. My
mother would decorate the tree with ornaments she had
collected for years from around the world.

She also made her own wreaths from branches from
the local tree-trimming hut. She would keep the wire
frames from year to year and fashion the branches around
them, then hang the wreaths outside the house. When I
saw the wreaths on the windows, I knew it would soon be
Christmas. to remember these moments and appreciate Christmas as a
time for family and traditions and giving, not just receiving.

Looking back, I don’t know how my mom had all that
stamina! Now that I’m in charge of the plan, I’ve taken
things down a notch, but tried to preserve the important
things that really matter.

I don’t write a family newsletter, but I do bake – a little.

I still can’t get the stollen quite right, but I haven’t given
up. My son now plays the piano and we sing along on
Christmas Eve, and I make him wait to open his gifts (have
to try and teach patience to the next generation after all).

I decorate the house with my own decorations, and
thankfully with some of my mother’s that have survived
the years. My husband thinks I go overboard, but I do it
anyway. And we decorate the evergreen tree outside our
house with real candles and light them. We watch the
candles burn together and remember the special people,
like my mother, who aren’t with us anymore, and we are
grateful for what we have. And that’s what really counts.

From our FAMILY to yours, Happy Holidays!
As children, this seemed like a magical time of year.

Keeping with German tradition, we celebrated St. Nicholas
Day. My two brothers and I would put our slippers outside
of our bedroom doors, and St. Nicholas would leave us
candy and coins.

We always celebrated together as a family on Christmas
Eve. My parents would put us in bed for a nap. Then, they
would ring sleigh bells and we knew Santa had come. We
would be bursting with excitement, but my mother would
ask us to be still for a few moments. She would light the
candles on the Christmas tree and ask us to think about the
6 December 2016 washingtonFAMILY.com
Sylvia Witaschek
Associate Publisher
Washington FAMILY Magazine
switaschek@thefamilymagazine.com