Family Heritage Christmas Traditions

Since we have been away from our family for a few years at Christmas time, I am always looking for traditions that I can do with my kids and that keep them connected to our family back home.  I love to research our ancestral lines and created a book listing holiday traditions of our maternal and paternal ancestors.  This year we highlighted my maternal lines so that took us to The Netherlands and Wales.

The Netherlands

On November 16th, three Saturdays before December 5th, we put our shoes on the fireplace for Sinterklass to fill with treats.  Each Saturday leading up the 5th, we repeated this fun.

December 5th is Christmas Eve in the Netherlands.  Families get together for a special dinner and hot chocolate.  After dinner, they find chocolate letters under the tree left by Sinterclass as well as anonymous gifts to each other.  We were lucky to have my mom in Enid for the December 5th festivities.

Wales

We did our best with the Welch traditions.  The families in Wales will stay up all night making taffy and wassail while awaiting a 3-6am sing along at the church Christmas morning.  We made the treats but did them during waking hours. Our wassail was tasty but our taffy was green mint goo.  I guess my Welch heritage does not mean I am an expert candy maker.

Merry Christmas from our ancestral heritage!