Locals share festive holiday traditions

Holiday traditions vary from country to country and house to house, often passed down through family. Many of the traditions revolve around family gatherings and meals, from buffets of soup on Christmas Eve to cookie-baking with grandchildren to Christmas Day grazing from charcuterie boards.

The Leader reached out to hear what locals do to celebrate the holidays and some Longmont residents were happy to share their holiday secrets.

Local musician and Longmont resident Felix Whitmore said burgers became the traditional Christmas Eve meal when his grandmother, a church organist, needed to feed her three sons quickly. 

“My grandma opted for burgers as a way to make everyone happy and get out the door faster,” Whitemore said. “We still eat burgers every year on Christmas Eve.”

Karen Stallard from the Longmont Area Chamber of Commerce said her family’s traditions came from her European grandparents — including a meal of roast duck, potatoes and cabbage — but her favorite was the Danish “Little Christmas Eve,” or Lille Juleaften.

“The day before Christmas Eve, we make a traditional Danish rice porridge and have it with cinnamon sugar for dinner,” Stallard said. “The leftover porridge from Lille Juleaften is used for a rice pudding dessert on Christmas Eve with an almond prize.”

The almond prize, she explained, is a tradition where one whole almond is placed at the bottom of one of the desserts. Whoever finds the almond gets to open one present on Christmas Eve. Stallard and her family added one extra gift to the festivities, typically a new board game for the family to learn and enjoy together on Christmas Eve. 

Hearkening back to older European traditions, Longmont resident Devin Quince and his family starts celebrating Yule on the night of the winter solstice. Quince is a self-proclaimed Heathen, a member of the Asatru community that worships nature and the old Norse gods of Scandinavia that predate Christianity.

Yule is celebrated for twelve days, Quince said, starting with Mother’s Night where the family honors the female spirit and goddesses of their pantheon, including Freyja, Frigga and Sif. A Yule log is cut before the ceremony begins and a candle is lit on each of the nights. The final night of Yule will be Jan. 1, Quince said, culminating in a bonfire and a ceremony called a blot.

“We’ll cook a good, hearty meal and have a bonfire. We make an offering to the gods as part of our feast and then we try to keep that bonfire going all night,” Quince said. “In the morning, we’ll burn the Yule log itself to close out the ceremony.”

Do you have a unique family tradition around the holidays? Let the Leader know in the comments.