Christmas is a magical time filled with love, kindness, good will toward men, and some really bizarre holiday traditions.
Now that we've survived another one, let's have some fun with those bizarre traditions.
Although I have never personally taken part in any holiday pickle hiding (get your head out of the gutter!) many families in my neighborhood do.
If you aren't familiar with the tradition... first of all, you are normal. Second, here's a little background on it from wikipedia:
"The Christmas pickle is a Christmas tradition for some people in the United States and Canada. A decoration in the shape of a pickle is hidden on a Christmas tree, with the finder receiving either a reward or good fortune for the following year. There are a number of different origin stories attributed to the tradition, including an origination in Germany. This theory has since been discounted, and it is now thought to be an American tradition created in the late 19th century."
Recently, I was making fun of a buddy for his following this tradition. After making every inappropriate joke I could think of, he looked at me and said, "Come on man. I'm sure your family does something weird too."
At first I scoffed at his impudence. Then I started to remember some of my own Christmas traditions. Some are current. Some are from my childhood in the 1970s. All of them are a little weird. One of them still gives me terrible nightmares.
Apparently in the 1950s and 1960s, it was all the rage for families to buy Santa Clause costumes for the dad to wear to play Santa for his kids. One of the strange parts about this was the fact that many included a mask. Not fake hair and a beard. Not a hat and glasses. A mask. Do you know what doesn't look like a jolly old elf? Your dad in a cheesy mask.
I believe this was the universal 1950s mask (probably ordered from the Sears catalog).
Merry christmas! Give me your soul!
How would you like to see that staring back at you on Christmas Eve?
I'm not sure if everyone knows this, but rubber made in the 1950s was not intended to be permanent. These masks were not meant to last forever. Thanks to the ravages of time and being stored in uninsulated attics resulting in exposure to both extreme heat and cold, these masks began to break down. Most families tossed them out after getting a few years of use out of them.
Most families.
Not mine.
My family continued using the exact same mask when I was a kid in the 1970s. Do you know what the only thing scarier than that 1950s rubber Santa mask? That same masked after it has become cracked and faded. Toss in the fact that what little cotton beard remained was stained gray and you have the thing from which nightmares are born.
This is not an actual photo of my family. Our mask could not be photographed. Well it could, but no one would process the negatives out of fear of their soul being consumed on the spot.
At least most families would only bring out such a monstrosity one night a year.
Most families.
Not mine.
From Thanksgiving until Christmas, "Santa" would make unannounced appearances outside my grandparents' windows just to make sure my sister and I were being good. One minute we would be sitting eating dinner. The next minute Satan (that is not a typo) would be menacingly gazing at us through the dining room window. Did he catch us being good? Hell yes!!!! Of course we were good. We weren't worried about some "naughty list". We were afraid that thing was going to eat our soul right then and there.
Have we been good? Of course we have. We're scared to death!
There has always been rumors of my sister and I having an older brother who fell at the hands of that creature... but we don't talk about that.
Christmas became more of a relief than a celebration. We would have to meet the monster face to face one last time and then he'd be gone... until next Thanksgiving.
This went on until around 1980. It was at that time that family legend states the mask finally disintegrated and returned to the depths of Hell from whence it came. By the time my brothers were born, our family had started to hire a professional Santa.
Because of this ordeal, my sister and I share a special bond that can only be born out of pure terror. We will be forever connected by surviving this horror. From time to time, we will catch each other's gaze, nod, and say "The Mask". It is a little reminder that it actually happened and we are not going completely insane.
If you didn't think that tradition was weird enough, let me add a cherry on top. When I was very young, my grandparents would require my five aunts and uncles to pray before receiving their Christmas gifts. And they made them pray to this...
Yep my aunts and uncles had to kneel down and pray to that beast before receiving their tinker toys, lawn jarts and pet rocks.
Luckily, because my sister and I were so young, we only had to sing Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer to it.
I hate that freaking song!
*This story is 100% true. I actually downplayed some of it out of fear that the creature may return some day to exact it's revenge.
Is this a game that ends with a visit to jail???
Depends on who you play with...
Someone in our family wraps boxes of food as presents: Cheerios, saltines, rennet. Nobody likes her.
That's too funny!! I had to look up what rennet was....gross!!! I wonder why she did that, did you find out?
I received a can of tuna for a wedding shower gift....it was a kitchen theme!! Must be a tradition somewhere?
She's related only by marriage and we think it must be something her family did, maybe for fun, but nobody really wants to ask. lol
Maybe you could write a story about her.....that might be a good writing prompt :)
Brilliant! My daughter has started her own tradition of taking something out of my wife's closet and wrapping it for her. It would be cute if she were 3 but she's 10 and doing it to be funny. Of I course I encourage it.
lol
I love this!!! That is very creative....your daughter has a great sense of humor!
nice
lol.....not laughing at you....just laughing because it sounds like something out of a horrible Christmas movie. Where does one start to make a comment about it all??
I'm wondering if you and your sister needed an
exorcismtherapy? It would not be a wonder!I grew up in the 60's and we had the same Santa tradition but nothing like your experience, nothing.
The one tradition we had was born from my father's obsession with the Osmonds. They had a four boy singing group at that time and my dad had four daughters. So, being a barbershop singer, he knew about harmony.
For hours, he would teach us an easy song in four part harmony - like O Holy Night (eye ball rolling easy) and we would have to perform it in front of about 50+ family members at my Grandmother's house on Christmas day.
We were all in the same outfit. My mom sewed us blue velvet dresses and curled out hair.
This all sounds sweet but I wasn't a singer. I had the easiest part and I couldn't sing in four part harmony....I just couldn't no matter how hard I tried.
Once done performing, my dad would apologize for my singing, (after every single Christmas, year after year after year) saying
Therapy anyone?
I can understand your dislike for the Rudolph song. :)
oh my gosh... this sounds like a scene out of a movie!
Depends what kind of movie you mean.....my parents were very concerned about the fact that they had four beautiful daughters and it was important to them that we were displayed. So....what movie would you compare it to? National Lampoon? hehehe
The image in my head of the girls in matching dresses and your dad apologizing after the song - it has a somewhat similar feel to Christmas Story. lol
Yes....that's the one, I couldn't remember the name. Definitely !
Oh wow! Thank you for this. It helps to know I'm not alone lol!
Thank you for reminding me about homemade outfits. My grandma made my sister and I matching purple velvet jumpsuits.... um I'm a boy!
lol x100!!!! purple....velvet.....jumpsuit!! sorry. lol!!
NOW this was an ODD article lool
hehe....wonderful memories :)
We had a Aunt that sold Avon, so every year the Men would get soap on a rope. Its like we all knew what it was when she handed us the wrapped Gift. Well she passed away 15 years ago. One of the men took his still new in the box Soap on a rope and rewrapped it and gave it to one of the other Men in our family the following Christmas. It started out as a Joke, but next year the soap was wrapped again ( never having been unwrapped) and given to some one else. That person was Designated 'The Keeper of the Soap" its happened every year since and the package keeps getting bigger because of the rewraps. I got it last year, put it in a drawer, and rewrapped it and gave it to my Brother this year.
First of all, that is awesome!
Second. I remember soap a rope. I think I got one every Christmas and they were always from avon. I think they actually made them in shapes. I think I had a gross looking yellow car one.
I agree - Awesome!
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Haha I love it @hanshotfirst ! so many strange traditions ! I have never hid the perverbial "Pickle " in a tree before , but I have heard of it ! Sounds like a great family tradition , thanks for sharing it with us ! upped and resteemed !! 👌👍✌💕🎉🎁🎄🎀🎀🎉🎁🎄💕✌🎀
Well we just started the tradition of watching the Lord of the Rings on Christmas night. My whole family from age 4-18. I love those movies but yeah maybe we should just hide some pickles. Great post!!
That is awesome! One of my favorite movies of all time by far. My kids love it too. That can be something you stick with when you have your own family some day.
I can't wait to watch it with my grandkids some day and cry like a little girl when Aragon says"You bow to no man".
They will ask, "Is grandpa going through 'the change'?"
Haha. I think we had some strong allergens in the movie room when that scene happened, because, being a male, there's no way I'm calling it "crying".
Hilarious traditions and this mention of the scary Santa mask brings back memories of one Christmas at my grandparents' with my family, cousins, aunts and uncles when one of the uncles decided to be Santa and show up wearing one of these aged mask in the hope of entertaining all the children only to send them all scurrying and crying in fear!
I always wondered why some adults enjoyed scaring (scarring) kids and laughing when they'd cry.
Oh, this is hilarious and brings back memories from my childhood in the 50s when all my family, cousins, aunts and uncles were at my grandparents' home for Christmas and one of my uncles decided to appear in the living room near the Christmas tree in one of these aged mask. I
The Santa mask will be useful for Halloween lol
Oh my word!
How to scare the kids into behaving...
That's horrifying and not in a good way!
Hide the pickle on the other hand... I didn't realise it was a thing! I thought it was a dirty joke (I'm really sorry... didn't mean to disrespect your traditions, especially after your traumatic childhood).
I hope you have a therapy-free Christmas!
"I hope you have a therapy-free Christmas!"
Oh that ship has sailed. But thanks!
Merry Christmas and Happy New year to you as well.
Well, we all have our little quirks and foibles ;)
You have material for a dozen books - just in this one post.!!!!
A belated happy Christmas !
(if i wished you happy Christmas before, I can't remember.... may have been intoxicated!)
We hide the pickle!
Us too! I had never heard of it before my hubby and I were married. Its a family tradition for them. Just a little extra fun on Christmas morning. 😄
For us it was a found tradition.
I'm kind of a junkie for random Christmas ornaments.
Happened along this pickle one year, read the card attached to it...that was it...now we hide the pickle.
We eat the pickle. It's very good.
That is awesome! An accidental tradition may be the best kind.
think that palace is a little scary :) But at Christmas we are generally as funny as sabers and after that we sleep almost 20 hours :) @hanshotfirst
What the hell, some pics straight out of Stephen King
Realy very interesting ! I do not neglect to wear this Christmas red pajamas :) @hanshotfirst
With these 'Christmas' masks, you could almost have yourselves a Merry "Horror" Christmas.
Happy Holiday............................ @hanshotfirst.
christmas. the day is fun and fun to everyone.
we dance and entertain many songs on this day.
Thanks for sharing your moment.
I came here just to say "i'm pickle rick" a rick and morty reference😂, also it's incredible the crazy and different traditions people have
Thank you for sending me 10 steemit, I don't know why but you have a new follower 😂
This is why...
https://steemit.com/community/@doctorcro/this-christmas-lets-bring-smiles-to-children-faces-in-hospitals-3
Good for you!
Thank you for that. Kids were happy to see all those present. Unfortunately I was doing 24 hour shift in the ER and couldn't give them presents myself
Christmas is about those who spend it with us. Having said that, when my family was bigger we would do all sorts of stuff to each other.
Scaring them and dooming children to a life of psychological therapy was just one of the things.
Heck, once my uncles played tennis with me, throwing me at each other. One at each side of the gate, throwing me uppwards and catching me when I would fall on the other side.
Cheers
Upvoted.
LOL I thought that was game was just an innuendo! This is oddly insightful for me...
My yearly tradition since childhood has been to annoy my brother with the Snow Miser song from the show the "Year Without A Santa Claus." I'd play it over and over when we were kids to drive him nuts. As an adult I randomly find ways to play it....call him and when he answers don't say anything...just play the song. Got him a stuffed animal that dances and plays the song. We also had a 6 year long re-gifting of some horrible Scooby Doo slippers. No one wanted them so it became a tradition to re-gift them every year.
Brilliant!
I'm more of a Heat Miser fan myself.
You had a couple of terrifying Christmas days, man. I feel you!
That Santa mask will haunt me in nightmares for a very long time...
I'm not sure what to do, to smile or being scared now!))
Go with smile. I love to laugh about tit.
Okay, I'll go then play hide and seek with a pickle.
I've heard it's a very cool Christmas game!
One side of the family has tradition of eating Christmas dinner twice.
Thats right, you eat Christmas dinner and then two hours later you eat Christmas dinner again as if you had not eaten it yet—FULL PLATE YET AGAIN. If you not more stuffed then the turkey and think you are in a food coma you did it wrong!
That's awesome!
Hahaha I like this mystery. I'd never heard of this before.
It's like how fortune cookies are "Chinese" when they were invented in the US by Japanese immigrants. Or how French fries aren't from France, and Hawaiian pizza was actually invented in Canada.
Get this: we all arrive with food to feed 10 times the number of people at the gathering, each of us eats enough for 5, and then we sit 4 people on couches designed for 3, trying not to fall asleep, wishing we could lay down and sleep, and then arguing over who should take the leftovers. Ho Ho Ho! I know right? So wierd.
Wait. Are you American?
How did you know?!?!?!
(I've added extra ?s and !s here to emphasize the OMG dramatics.)
Also very American!!!!!!!!!!!
In America we go big... or we go home!
I'm going to go get in my giant SUV filled with garbage I don't plan on recycling and head to the all you can eat buffet!
Merry christmas! Give me your soul!
My heart was racing I don't know why 😂😂😂
That part got me too!!! Give me your soul!!! I laughed out loud in my room, all by myself....not once, but off and on .....hehe....
So so cruel. And one of those things people tell you when you're upset about an event - "oh, you'll laugh about this years later, you'll see..."
I always thought my grandpa was oblivious. But now I'm thinking he was just hilarious!
Funny how the optics change when we get older. Thank God for laughter!
I do remember, Santa's masks, where very often in use, years ago :)
Wait, is this real? We had a pickle on our tree this year, and i found it very strange. My stepmother is from Germany, so that might have something to do with it? Or maybe the magical pickle just appeared :o
It's real! And weird!
Very weird indeed!
This is terribly amazing. Amazing because I did not have to suffer the trauma myself, and because I can feel the true horrors you felt growing up through your vivid writing.
Thanks for sharing!
My tradition consisted of opening presents and eating pancakes on Christmas morning...
Reading through your post I found it rather entertaining than scary, probably because you didn't upload the real mask xd.
In Nigeria we don't have much weird holiday, hmmm probably traditional festivals where masquerade are present not your friendly type I would say.
I love to hand tie beautiful bows and ribbons on the presents I put under the tree, as everyone opens their gifts, they add the ribbons on the tree afterwards. Then the tree is covered in beautiful ribbons. :-)
Lol, I'm definitely starting this tradition on my family!
My holiday tradition is to know myself in the lap of nature.
we just make a party,eat,enjoy and forget what we do. but ypur tradition is more loyal.
Ha ha ha so funny:)
by the way
Happy Holiday
fuerte
Thank you for the list
Wow! Amazing and lovely photography, I like it. Amazing concept. Thanks for sharing this post.
Merry Christmas to you and your family 🎁🎁🎁🍰🍰🍰🍰🍰
Love your story! I guess you will have made very strong and nice memories out of it. We have a new born tradition with family and friends since my grandma passed away fourteen years ago. In the link below you can cjeck it out if you like.
https://steemit.com/life/@raypelsteeltje/grandma-s-frying-pan
Wonderful funny post. Merry Christmas and Happy New year. Follow and upvoted you. Thanks for sharing the post
It's really good post. Thanks for sharing with us.
The Santa mask ,looking attractive.
Yes i want play with you dear
yeah best wishes for all for the future
full of surprise yes @hanshotfirst
you are so humorous ...
and Marry Christmas
really very nice post you shared.....
thnx for share this post....
dear friend @hanshorfirst
only this time I saw a scary santa mask like this.