The holiday season is gingerbread cookies decorated with care. It’s a fragrant fir tree in the living room window, hung heavy with lights and a lifetime of mismatched ornaments. It’s Chinese food and “A Christmas Story” on loop — holiday practices all for my family, at least.
This time of year is rich in tradition, in warm memories and festive rituals unpacked and celebrated year after year. We give thanks for another year gone by and spend time with the ones we cherish most.
Some have faded in time, the ghosts of Christmas past, while others have evolved and emerged with changing technology and tastes.
Here are some of our favorites, then and now.
THEN: LONG-DISTANCE CONNECTIONS
Before cellphones, and before cordless phones, there were that attached the receiver to the phone’s body, which housed a dial used for calling. There was also a cord that attached the phone’s body to the wall. On holidays, out-of-town relatives and friends would call, and the receiver would be passed from hand to hand, stretching as far as the kinking cord allowed. Long-distance calls were a big deal and, at $1 or more per minute, pretty expensive, like calling Antarctica today. We rarely said more than “Merry Christmas!” and maybe “How are you?” The pleasure of talking to people so far away — 50 miles! 100! 500! In FRANCE! — was real, but so was the extreme pressure from an anxious adult hovering overhead, mouthing “LONG DISTANCE!” When we passed on the receiver, and its increasingly tangled cord, it was with a sense of relief and a duty discharged. — Claire Martin
NOW: LIVE, FROM BOCA RATON
A few Christmas mornings ago, parents would hand phones to children playing with their new toys, so that they might say a quick hello to out-of-state grandparents. These days, it’s easier than ever for that grandparent to get a look at little sprouts wearing or playing with gifts — via Skype, Google Hangout or Facetime. Does he like the sweater you got him? Sure, just look at him, gritting his teeth through the chafing. That counts as a smile, and it builds character.
And if that’s not enough, your little ones can also live video chat with Santa at the North Pole now through Dec. 23, thanks to services such as and . Say goodbye to mall lines.
— Dave Burdick and Emilie Rusch
THEN: HOLIDAY SCENES, TINY AND BRIGHT
As a kid, few things were as enthralling to me during the holidays as the that would pop up in department store windows and on the mantels and tabletops of my family members. Whether it was a stately pewter Nativity scene or a cotton ball-aided Christmas village — replete with tiny horse-drawn carriages and ice skating rinks — I loved savoring the detail that went into these festive tableaux. — John Wenzel
NOW: DIGITAL DAZZLE
Department stores, have replaced their elf scenes with flatscreens. Rippling LED lights and yule-log DVDs are as close as many people will get to the colorful comfort of their childhood. The convenience and affordability is great. But simply plugging a pre-decorated item into a socket misses the thoughtfulness that went into the dioramas of Christmas past. And besides, who wants to imagine themselves shrunk down and inserted into a flickering digital picture frame instead of a handcrafted miniature version of Santa’s workshop? — John Wenzel
THEN: STUFFED WITH CARE, CITRUS
For me, one of the great traditions of Christmas morning was emptying the stockings my mom put out for us. She never did hang them from the fireplace mantel, for some reason — just placed them on the hearth. She always stuffed them with citrus: oranges, tangerines, tangelos and the like. My parents remembered them from their own North Carolina childhoods, when the and was thus a marker of the December holidays. Even now, I can bite into an orange in the dog days of August and still get a whiff of December in the Blue Ridge Mountains. — William Porter
NOW: THE MORE THE MERRIER
Today, citrus is available year-round, so while it’s as delicious as ever, it’s not quite the exotic seasonal harbinger it once was. But the past three decades have been a food boon, with lots of new fruits that once were unimaginable in America’s grocery stores. So if you want to up the ante on , try buying your loved ones a perfect pomegranate, a juicy mango or a Japanese apple pear. Hey, why not all three? — William Porter
THEN: RUDOLPH, FOR ONE NIGHT ONLY
Back in the Pleistocene, you’d get the kids into their footie pajamas and settle them in front of the Sony to watch “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” or “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.” When such shows aired only once a season, knowing the lyrics to “Misfit” or “You’re a Mean One, Mister Grinch” had some cachet. You could use the commercial break for bedtime snacks. — Susan Clotfelter
NOW: BUILD YOUR OWN OCCASION
Streaming services and DVRs mean you can watch any old holiday thing any time you want, commercial-free, unless it’s new this year. So hit Netflix, Hulu (or, gasp, your local indie video-rental shop) for some classy content of the more recent past. Try for older kids; “Bolt,” “Up” or one of the “Madagascar” movies for younger ones. Create your own intermission or pre-show tradition with a long walk around the neighborhood to see the lights — or string popcorn and cranberries while you watch the movie. Footie PJs optional, but in case you missed it, they’re back. — Susan Clotfelter
THEN: GOD REST YOU MERRY, GENTLEMEN
Small groups of friends and families would go through their neighborhoods in the Christmas season, singing Christmas carols. Sometimes you’d hear them coming down the street, and sometimes you’d just open the door to find people serenading you with old-fashioned Christmas favorites. — Colleen O’Connor
NOW: NOT SO SILENT NIGHT
Remember the days when you’d have to interrupt gift giving or dinner to flip over the record or cassette tape or change the CD of holiday music? You can’t do these things in silence, obviously. Every holiday gathering needs a constant, never-ending soundtrack of sleigh bells, choirs and seasonal cheer. Good thing the spirit of November and December is on the cloud now. Thanks to playlists, personalized radio stations (Pandora) and streaming services (Spotify), you have a continuous supply of holiday sounds — everything from Bing Crosby and Kanye West to ‘N Sync and the Ramones. Now, all you need is a yule log. Good thing that’s digitized, too. — Matt Miller
THEN: DEAR CHRISTMAS LETTER
My grandmother was a master of the art of the Christmas letter. For years, she crafted the merry missives, full of family milestones and stories, to send to loved ones near and far. She illustrated the original by hand with festive holly sprigs and, for each of her children and grandchildren, a bell or bow. Then, with care, she reproduced it by mimeograph (and in later years, color copier). A Christmas letter was an occasion, a once-a-year life update — something not so valued in today’s world of constant Facebook posts. — Emilie Rusch
NOW: REACH OUT AND TEXT SOMEONE
Holiday gatherings have long had familiar sights, sounds, tastes and smells, but a somewhat newer sensation appears to be here to stay. For the past decade or so, each Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year, pants, purses and pocketbooks have buzzed with group texts, heavy with exclamation points — and now emoji — from friends, old college acquaintances and… people who’ve long been deleted from your phone’s contacts. But hey, ’tis the season. You can muster a smiley face and a tree emoji in reply.— Dave Burdick
THEN: HOLIDAYS AU NATURALE
Candles in windows, natural materials draped on mantelpieces, holly, ivy and evergreen, paper chains made with care — this was the holiday decor of years past. And let’s not forget the best traditional decoration of all — a fresh, fluffy layer of snow. In the words of Irving Berlin, “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas, just like the ones I used to know.” Let it snow. — Emilie Rusch
NOW: EVERY YARD A SHOW
Eat your heart out, Clark Griswold. are getting bigger and flashier every year. Icicle lights, blow-up snowmen, LED strands — they’re all in a front yard near you. Now the latest trend: . That light show you’ve been dreaming of, set to the latest Trans-Siberian Orchestra carol, is possible with a click of your phone — and some pre-programming. Better hope the neighbors don’t mind. — Emilie Rusch
Emilie Rusch: 303-954-2457, erusch@denverpost.com or twitter.com/emilierusch
