For Many Families, Best Holiday Traditions are Non-Traditional

Derek Sim is going to wake up earlier than he would like on Christmas morning.

“My son can get up extremely early on Christmas,” the State College resident laughs. “He can easily get up at six, but my wife and I try to hold him off until seven.”

Their desperate desire for that extra hour of holiday sleep has led to a modified Christmas routine in their home. Sims says that instead of hanging the Christmas stocking over their mantle, they follow a more European tradition of hanging the stocking at the end of their son’s bed for Christmas morning.

“Inside the stocking, we put in a gift that we hope will keep him occupied for at least an hour or so. This year it’s a video game,” Sim says. “Maybe it’s not the best tradition, but it works!”

The Simses aren’t the only State College family to adjust Christmas traditions to fit their lifestyle.

Ron Filippelli says his family knows the holiday season can bring a lot of stress. Between the pressure to pick the perfect gifts and the struggle to summon disparate family members for traditional holiday meals, sometimes the season can be downright troublesome.

That’s why Filippelli and his family take some time for themselves.

“Each year sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas, we all go stay in the same hotel in a city together,” Filippelli says. “We spend some time together, explore the city, eat good food. That’s our holiday.”

This year was the third year of their custom, and the Filippelli clan gathered in Baltimore from all over the country. He says his children now have their own families and their own holiday obligations, so their new non-traditional tradition is the perfect chance to enjoy the holiday season without the pressures it normally brings.

State College resident Karen Helsley says a change in her family’s traditions is also relieving some of the pressures that she normally feels on Christmas morning.

Ever since her children were young, Helsley would wake up early on Dec. 25 to make a fabulous breakfast feast for her family. The grandparents would come over, enjoy the meal and then everyone would open presents together.

“Since I’m a grandma now, my daughter is the one making the big breakfast. Now the grandparents and great-grandparents all come over and get together,” Helsley says. “It melts my heart to see my daughter carrying that tradition on.” 

With her daughter’s help, Helsley hopes that this tradition can move on to a new generation of children.

State College High School student Lexi Anderson says she finds herself in “a unique position” each year once the holiday seasons rolls around. Her step-father is Catholic and her mother is Jewish, so Anderson celebrates both Christmas and Hanukkah every year.

She says that’s especially fun during years like 2014, when the eight days of Hanukkah overlap with Christmas. The menorah sits in a place of prominence near the Christmas tree, which Anderson says leads to amusing confusion when friends come over for the first time.

The Andersons blend traditions from both holidays together, she says. Her family eats chocolate-covered oranges (a “mash up” of Christmas oranges and Jewish customs involving dark chocolate), and Anderson says she looks forward to eating the traditional Hanukkah latkes on Christmas day. 

“I feel like I really get the best of both worlds,” Anderson says. “I get to explore two different sets of traditions at once.”

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