A Traditional Holiday
As families grow and change over the years, there are typically a few things that stick around and carry on from generation to generation. Traditions are an important aspect of any family and even more so during the holidays. Whether it's a specific meal you eat, or a fun activity you do with the family, these traditions are what help make your family unique and special.
Not surprisingly, the Johnson clan had - and still has - many traditions during the winter holidays. Some of them carry over from the Johnson side of the family, while others were passed on from the Loveland side. Of course, we also made many of our own. With these traditions come a lot of memories and I thought it'd be fun to stroll down memory lane and share some of these traditions and memories with you.
When you live next to a golf course that features several large hills that get covered in snow every winter, the only natural thing to do is to hurl yourself down them on nothing but a thin piece of plastic. As kids, we spent literally hundreds of hours sledding down the various hills on the Glenmoor Golf Course. We built sweet jumps at the bottom, the bigger the better and it wasn't a sledding season if one of us didn't bruise or break a tailbone. Saucers, toboggans, the sled with hand brakes, and those wicked cool trike sleds - it didn't matter, we were going down those hills from the time we got out of school until the sun went down and we were trudging home after dark. With those hills and the vast openness of the golf course came massive snowdrifts created by the endless wind in that area. Looking back at it now, our activities on these giant drifts probably weren't the most well thought out. An extensive system of snow tunnels and forts for snowball fights were the norm. One of the memories that often comes with the drifts actually happened with my siblings when we were older. It was after a rather large storm and the wind had created some rather substantial drifts on the edge of the hillside. Naturally, we thought it'd be a fun thing to sit the youngest brother on one of these drifts and stomp on it to break it off and have little Josh ride it down the hill. Well, it worked, but only for a minute. The drift I was riding began to fall apart and tumble, which sent me ass over tea kettle and the drift found its way over the top of me, burying me in snow. My brothers and sister-in-law recall only seeing my awesome moon boots sticking out of the snow and they all began to dig me out. Luckily, no major damage was done, save for the claustrophobia I developed. (Just kidding, I've always hated small spaces, so you can imagine the panic I was in. I have another great story about sledding down these hills, but this one occurred during the summertime! I'll save that for another time.
When you have five boys in the family, it shouldn't be a huge surprise to learn that many of our traditions revolve around food. Lots of food. One Christmas tradition that I always looked forward to each year as a kid was the Christmas Eve dinner. My dad would make a giant wok of fried rice, chicken wings for everyone else ( I don't eat meat off the bone...gross), Lil' Smokies in the slow cooker and so much more. My mouth still salivates at the smell of ginger cooking in the wok. We'd occasionally mix things up with a fondue (it was the 80s after all), but that rice was and always has
been one of my favorite meals. Over on the Loveland side of the family, it wouldn't be a family gathering if we didn't have my Aunt Colleen's ridiculously delicious popcorn that is covered in marshmallows and some other gooey happiness. Or there's always my Aunt Sharon's homemade fudge. Or better yet, my late Grandma Winnie's marshmallow-topped brownies. Though it didn't show up often during the holidays, my grandma's BBQ beef needs a special nod here as well. These days, our Christmas Eve dinner has gone to the wayside, but I've been lucky enough to take part in a Christmas morning tradition with my wife's family, where my mother-in-law assembles a massive array of food that includes eggs, hash brown quiche, baked french toast, homemade Orange Julius drink, German pancakes and so much more. Nothing like opening presents, trying to stay conscious after eating a meal like that.
Speaking of extended families, we had traditions on both sides of my family. My Grandpa Johnson was a high school band teacher for many, many years at Box Elder High School in Brigham City, Utah. He loved music, something he passed on to his kids and grandkids, including me. He had an organ in his living room, one that was able to make all sorts of obnoxious noises when a seven-year-old pressed as many keys as he could manage at once. I spent quite a bit of time sitting at that organ. Oftentimes at Christmas, after we'd all eaten and exchanged gifts, my Grandpa would lead us in singing different Christmas carols, or he'd have us all stand up and sing to the adults. On the Loveland side of the clan, when we were younger, it wasn't unusual for all the boys in the family to get matching coats or vests. Being there were only three girls in the family, they too received a matching something. At least, I think they did. My Grandma always included certain things in our stockings, which typically included Fun Stripes Gum and those giant inflatable punching balloons. My Grandma also made stockings for all of us kids, made of red & white felt. If I remember correctly, my mom and her sisters also had them growing up. My mom recently took the time to recreate these stockings for all of her kids, their spouses, and the grandkids in the family. Her fireplace is covered in red and green stockings now and they always bring back a feeling of Christmas for me.
Let's hop back to Christmas Eve for a minute, since that's where a lot of the Johnson traditions took place. Like many families, we had real Christmas trees in our house, but we nearly always had a white flocked tree. Our "fancy" room at the time had white carpet and red furniture (remember, it was the late 70s and early 80s), so the white flocked tree was covered in red bows and red Christmas lights. It was really kind of cool for the time. After we'd tackle the Christmas Eve dinner, we'd all gather together and my dad would read us the story of the birth of Christ from the bible, we'd end with family prayer and head off to bed, where we'd proceed to not sleep at all because of the excitement. Now, I'm not a super religious person, and never have been really, but this tradition still brings back so many memories of the holidays for me, mostly because it involved my family. Come Christmas morning, it was a race to see who'd get up first and run through the house to get everyone else up. This entailed anything from squirt bottles to the face to running and jumping on beds while the occupant was still fast asleep. As was the case when my brother Tyler had come back from college when he was a Freshman at SUU (I think) and he made sure we were awake but coming into our rooms screaming and jumping on our beds. We'd gather once more for family prayer and afterward head into the living room where it was controlled chaos for the better part of an hour as we made our way around the room, taking turns opening presents from Santa. Clothes, toys, bikes, big wheels, Hot Wheels, WWF/E wrestling rings, family gym memberships to the Country Court House and so much more. I was lucky enough to be provided with a fun and exciting Christmas growing up.
These days, many of those traditions still hang on in one way or another, but I've also created some new ones with my wife, most o which center around movies. Every year, we go out of our way to make sure we watch certain movies, like Elf and The Sana Claus series. I make sure I catch at least one viewing of National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, A Christmas Story, and White Christmas.
As you can see, and probably already knew, family traditions help make us who we are and help create memories for years to come. I hope you've enjoyed a bit of a look into my past with me. I'd also love to hear what some of your family traditions are as well, so feel free to leave a comment below.
I wish you all a happy, healthy, and safe holiday season this year and I hope you are able to create and relive many holiday memories over the coming days. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all of you!
When you live next to a golf course that features several large hills that get covered in snow every winter, the only natural thing to do is to hurl yourself down them on nothing but a thin piece of plastic. As kids, we spent literally hundreds of hours sledding down the various hills on the Glenmoor Golf Course. We built sweet jumps at the bottom, the bigger the better and it wasn't a sledding season if one of us didn't bruise or break a tailbone. Saucers, toboggans, the sled with hand brakes, and those wicked cool trike sleds - it didn't matter, we were going down those hills from the time we got out of school until the sun went down and we were trudging home after dark. With those hills and the vast openness of the golf course came massive snowdrifts created by the endless wind in that area. Looking back at it now, our activities on these giant drifts probably weren't the most well thought out. An extensive system of snow tunnels and forts for snowball fights were the norm. One of the memories that often comes with the drifts actually happened with my siblings when we were older. It was after a rather large storm and the wind had created some rather substantial drifts on the edge of the hillside. Naturally, we thought it'd be a fun thing to sit the youngest brother on one of these drifts and stomp on it to break it off and have little Josh ride it down the hill. Well, it worked, but only for a minute. The drift I was riding began to fall apart and tumble, which sent me ass over tea kettle and the drift found its way over the top of me, burying me in snow. My brothers and sister-in-law recall only seeing my awesome moon boots sticking out of the snow and they all began to dig me out. Luckily, no major damage was done, save for the claustrophobia I developed. (Just kidding, I've always hated small spaces, so you can imagine the panic I was in. I have another great story about sledding down these hills, but this one occurred during the summertime! I'll save that for another time.
When you have five boys in the family, it shouldn't be a huge surprise to learn that many of our traditions revolve around food. Lots of food. One Christmas tradition that I always looked forward to each year as a kid was the Christmas Eve dinner. My dad would make a giant wok of fried rice, chicken wings for everyone else ( I don't eat meat off the bone...gross), Lil' Smokies in the slow cooker and so much more. My mouth still salivates at the smell of ginger cooking in the wok. We'd occasionally mix things up with a fondue (it was the 80s after all), but that rice was and always has
Speaking of extended families, we had traditions on both sides of my family. My Grandpa Johnson was a high school band teacher for many, many years at Box Elder High School in Brigham City, Utah. He loved music, something he passed on to his kids and grandkids, including me. He had an organ in his living room, one that was able to make all sorts of obnoxious noises when a seven-year-old pressed as many keys as he could manage at once. I spent quite a bit of time sitting at that organ. Oftentimes at Christmas, after we'd all eaten and exchanged gifts, my Grandpa would lead us in singing different Christmas carols, or he'd have us all stand up and sing to the adults. On the Loveland side of the clan, when we were younger, it wasn't unusual for all the boys in the family to get matching coats or vests. Being there were only three girls in the family, they too received a matching something. At least, I think they did. My Grandma always included certain things in our stockings, which typically included Fun Stripes Gum and those giant inflatable punching balloons. My Grandma also made stockings for all of us kids, made of red & white felt. If I remember correctly, my mom and her sisters also had them growing up. My mom recently took the time to recreate these stockings for all of her kids, their spouses, and the grandkids in the family. Her fireplace is covered in red and green stockings now and they always bring back a feeling of Christmas for me.
Let's hop back to Christmas Eve for a minute, since that's where a lot of the Johnson traditions took place. Like many families, we had real Christmas trees in our house, but we nearly always had a white flocked tree. Our "fancy" room at the time had white carpet and red furniture (remember, it was the late 70s and early 80s), so the white flocked tree was covered in red bows and red Christmas lights. It was really kind of cool for the time. After we'd tackle the Christmas Eve dinner, we'd all gather together and my dad would read us the story of the birth of Christ from the bible, we'd end with family prayer and head off to bed, where we'd proceed to not sleep at all because of the excitement. Now, I'm not a super religious person, and never have been really, but this tradition still brings back so many memories of the holidays for me, mostly because it involved my family. Come Christmas morning, it was a race to see who'd get up first and run through the house to get everyone else up. This entailed anything from squirt bottles to the face to running and jumping on beds while the occupant was still fast asleep. As was the case when my brother Tyler had come back from college when he was a Freshman at SUU (I think) and he made sure we were awake but coming into our rooms screaming and jumping on our beds. We'd gather once more for family prayer and afterward head into the living room where it was controlled chaos for the better part of an hour as we made our way around the room, taking turns opening presents from Santa. Clothes, toys, bikes, big wheels, Hot Wheels, WWF/E wrestling rings, family gym memberships to the Country Court House and so much more. I was lucky enough to be provided with a fun and exciting Christmas growing up.
As you can see, and probably already knew, family traditions help make us who we are and help create memories for years to come. I hope you've enjoyed a bit of a look into my past with me. I'd also love to hear what some of your family traditions are as well, so feel free to leave a comment below.
I wish you all a happy, healthy, and safe holiday season this year and I hope you are able to create and relive many holiday memories over the coming days. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all of you!
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