Holiday Traditions
Holidays bring with them a lot of memories, expectations, traditions and emotional stuff. That can sometimes be tied in with food too, for many different reasons. Let’s take a breath, take a step back and investigate holiday traditions.
They’re there for you, not the other way around.
We humans make a lot of things more difficult than they need to be. We create conflicts and stress and problems for ourselves even when things could be quite a bit easier. And even fun. Holidays are fantastic and meant to be relaxing - but how often are they? If your answer is “always! I don’t stress about that stuff at all”, then great! Maybe you can share this with someone you know who isn’t quite as zen as you.
Traditions are lovely. They bring people together, and they create wonderful memories and great conversations, anecdotes and a nice, familiar feeling. But life is not always very helpful when it comes to trying to do everything to plan. The last couple of years have certainly showed us that.
Sometimes we forget that traditions are there to serve us, not the other way around. If a tradition doesn’t serve you anymore, or at least not in the way you’re doing it right now, it is 100% allowed to reevaluate, change, or even drop traditions completely.
Food is a huge part of tradition around Christmas and other winter holidays. No wonder! In many parts of the world that celebrate during this time, it’s a cold, dark time. So what is more tempting than staying indoors with comforting food and hot drinks. But what often happens with food traditions is that they get more and more elaborate, a lot of pressure is put on making the food perfectly, and the pressure is on even more if it’s something you only eat once a year.
Here is my tradition enjoyment checklist, just to make sure you actually have fun this holiday:
Are you actually enjoying the food you’re making? How does the rest of the party who will be eating it feel (family, roommates, friends)? If you are making an elaborate, or at the very least time consuming meal (like a big roast for example), it’s really just silly to be putting in all that time and effort just because that’s what people expect, or because your parents used to do it, or whatever other reason you continue with it. Now I love an excuse to make both Norwegian and British Christmas food, I absolutely love it, and I love making it too, but I know a lot of people who are not that keen. It’s important to both not force traditional food onto someone else, or to force yourself to make it just for the sake of it. Maybe if you have a conversation about it, you’ll realise that everyone is happy to go for something a lot simpler?
On that note, if you are the person in your household who most often ends up cooking, and you feel you’re expected to make a big, traditional holiday dinner that you’re not actually that interested in, get the rest involved. If this is important to them, then they can certainly get involved! If that is what you would like. I prefer to be alone in the kitchen, so the way someone can contribute for me is to come in occasionally and check if I need a top-up of red wine (yes, please) and to not question the mess - I’ll tidy later, okay??
If you are nervous about messing up a meal you’re making for your family, it is totally legit to practise! If you are doing a few different dishes for example, you can try one here or there in the weeks leading up to a Christmas party or meal - it’ll get you in the spirit too, and make everything go a bit smoother when it counts. And again, you are allowed to ask for help.
Have a backup of a couple of ready meals (they can be your homemade ready meals!) in the freezer that you actually love, so if something went wrong you can just laugh at it and still be fed, instead of panicking about what shops are open.
Be respectful of other people’s dietary restrictions. If you have always done a turkey for your family but someone has decided to follow a vegetarian or vegan diet, they’re not doing it to make your life hard. I promise. People don’t want to inconvenience, most of the time, but if people have dietary restrictions there are good reasons for that. Ask them if they can help you with their part of the meal, or if they have a favourite Christmas recipe that they can send you if you want to make it for them.
Try something new! Learn about holiday food from other countries - they might be quite similar to yours but just with a little twist, and often you’ll find that the flavours and spices that make the food hearty and Christmassy will be in there, but maybe in just a slightly different way. It’s a nice way to change up your traditions instead of just having regular ‘non holiday food’ if you decide don’t want to continue with your old traditions.
Remember to have fun and not worry so much. If the meat is a bit dry, the gravy is a bit runny or the vegetables are a bit mushy, I bet you it’s probably going to be delicious still!
How do you make sure you enjoy the holiday period and traditions that come with it? Message me on Instagram @TheFromScratchBody!
