December 21, 2012

Readers share their favorite Christmas memories

Family traditions at Christmas span many years and several generations

By Mark Hummer (Special to The Criterion)

When I was growing up in Michigan and later as a college student at the University of Toledo in Ohio, it was a Hummer family tradition to meet at my dad’s parent’s house in West Toledo on Christmas Eve night.

After he died, we kept up that custom even after my Grandma Hummer passed away.

We still meet at my Uncle Ken’s and Aunt Jane’s house, the old family home where my dad and his brothers grew up.

After we gathered at their house, we would go out to look at the Christmas lights in the area then visit the Children’s Winter Wonderland at the Lucas County Recreation Center, where the Toledo Mudhens used to play baseball.

While we were out looking at the holiday lights, Santa Claus would visit the house and stack the presents in a big pile.

My Grandpa Hummer and later my dad would play the part of Santa.

But we did not unwrap our presents until after the Mass.

On Christmas, my brother, Mike, and I would go with our parents to pick up my mom’s mother and take her to my Uncle Mick’s house in Whitehouse, Ohio, where we would spend the holiday with his family.

Uncle Mick would always say, “Anyone up for a hike or a walk in the woods?”

My wife, Siming, the kids and I still keep up those traditions today.

When I was growing up, my dad would always say, “Christmas is about the kids.”

I did not really catch on to what he was talking about until I had kids of my own.
 

(Mark Hummer is a member of St. Christopher Parish in Indianapolis.) †

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