Erin Walsh: A Christmas Tradition

Erin Walsh shares about her family’s Christmas tradition and celebrating her cultural identity.

It’s 6 p.m. on Christmas Day. The Christmas tree twinkles against a dark window, and a twinge of frost is beginning on the front lawn — the closest we’ll ever get to a “white Christmas” in the East Bay.

My family is finishing our holiday dinner, passing around a tray of cookies, sipping on coffee and wine. Soon, a sleigh appears.

My family always saves one final round of Christmas presents for the end of the night. A tradition passed down through my maternal grandfather, the gifts appear during dessert, in a small, decorative sleigh. We’ve gone through many sleighs over the years, from paper mache to wood and wicker. It always makes its way around the table, and everyone finds the present with their name on it.

“To Erin, from Santa.”

“Santa’s” gifts are small — Dad regularly receives golf balls; one year, everyone got a book. But however petite the packages are, the sleigh gifts are often the most meaningful. The sleigh is a way to extend the evening, to continue the familial love and connection that marks Christmas; one last “I love you” of the season.

Growing up, I was always self-conscious of the fact that I didn’t have an observable “culture.” I didn’t celebrate any religious holidays, other than very secular versions of Christmas and Easter. I envied my friends who could write about their culture or ethnicity in school, while I struggled to find information about my heritage, always searching to find connections to my distant German, Irish and British ancestors.

Now I recognize that my culture lies in traditions like the sleigh. Culture is your family, your community, who you are. It’s the fact that I make gravy every Thanksgiving with my Nana, using Great Aunt Peggy’s shaker. It’s the 100-year-old Nativity scene that we put up every year, despite the fact that it’s falling apart. It’s my middle name, Mae, passed down from my great grandmother.

Culture is a multitude of things — its meaning depends on who’s defining it. For me, it means that there will always be a sleigh at Christmas dinner.

With a Perspective, I’m Erin Walsh.

Erin Walsh is a high school English teacher. She is passionate about reading, writing and trivia.