The traditions that make Christmas special

“You know, it’s funny what a young man recollects,” Forrest Gump once said, amongst other things. I think about that quote a lot, especially now, as a parent, when I’m showing my daughter traditions from my childhood, helping her learn her way through life.

What she doesn’t understand, though, is that I’m learning far more from her than she ever will from me.

Take, for example, the candy buckeyes we made last week, something that was just a part of life in northeast Ohio, the Buckeye State. Every year at Christmas, we would make the standard cutout sugar cookies, my mom would attempt her mother’s caramel recipe, but would under cook it just enough to make it a gluey mess, and someone would make the signature buckeyes.

They’re essentially the same thing as Reese’s peanut butter cups — a very unhealthy combination of peanut butter and chocolate. Although I’m unsure how Reese’s are made, I do know that the delicious buckeyes are full of peanut butter, butter, powdered sugar, and chocolate. The healthiest thing about them is when there are no more to be consumed.

I try to make or buy them every year at Christmas — it’s a tradition that’s ingrained in me. The yuletide season is not complete without them. I’ll pass on the cutout cookies in favor of buckeyes. This tradition has become more of a thing as my daughter has gotten older.

As I mentioned, she continues to teach me, although she doesn’t see it. First, I learned that the traditions surrounding the holidays are far more important than any present you give or receive. It’s about having your loved ones and doing something you bond over. For me, not only are the buckeyes a tradition, but believe it or not, Chinese food on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day is a tradition that my daughter and I look forward to every year.

Another thing she’s taught me is patience. I needed plenty of that when we made the signature candy from my home state. The first rule we went over for the night was “If I don’t tell you to do something, you don’t do it.” I would have her repeat that back to me multiple times over top the mountain of peanut butter, powdered sugar, and chocolate chips that laid before us — I forgot the butter in the fridge when we were going over the rules.

“Gigi, what’s the number one rule tonight?” I’d ask her. “If Daddy doesn’t tell me to do something, I can’t do it!” would be her reply, which although she could parrot it back to me, I don’t think she ever truly understood.

“Stop. Do not lick that. That’s disgusting! Other people are going to eat these, Gigi,” I said far too many times throughout the endeavor.

At the end of the night, with her donning her best Macho Man Randy Savage chocolate handle bar mustache, we enjoyed one-too-many of our delicious homemade treats, probably a few minutes too early. But we couldn’t wait to try the fruits of our labor.

This holiday season, I urge you to do the same — find the joy in the occasion. Learn something. Enjoy those around you, because some day you won’t have the opportunity to do so.