When I was in grad school, I started a tradition of leaving a holiday greeting voicemail on the answering machine of my old and dear friend, John McManus.
Does anyone still use an answering machine?
Anyway, Mac would go home for the holidays and when he returned from the break, he would be greeted by a cheerful message from me. Mac and I used to love doing some of our favorite impressions for each other and in the holiday greeting, I’d “treat” him to some of my best impressions in the form of a Christmas carol (think something along the lines of “Do They Know It’s Christmas,” in which various voices sing a line or two and then pass the baton on to the next singer).
In this version of a Christmas quirk, I’d leave a message for Mac and it would be in the form of some of his favorite voices – friends, colleagues, celebrities…you name it.
I’m sure when he returned to his apartment in early January, he’d find the greeting, roll his eyes, smile and then hit the delete button. In that order.
Meanwhile, I can think of other Christmas quirks that did NOT require me singing in character!
For example, there was a young lady who caught my eye my senior year in high school. I stayed in touch with her during our college years and, even though no romance developed, I always considered her a good friend. Still do.
One year on Christmas Eve, I called her house to wish her a Happy Holiday and I stumbled into someone’s holiday family tradition. I don’t remember the exact wording, but the members of the family would call each other on Christmas Eve and the first one to say the magic words, won the prize for that year. It was something like “Ghost of Christmas Past!” or “Christmas Cookies!” or “Egg Nog!”
You can imagine my surprise, when I made the call that year and, instead of “Hello” or “Merry Christmas” I was greeted with “Christmas Elf!”
What a lovely idea. And what a wonderful family that carried on that tradition each year. And what a great memory, for me, the year I accidentally participated in the game.
Here’s another version of a Christmas quirk: “Dirty Santa.” In case you have never played this mean-spirited game, it goes something like this…
Everyone brings a gift and the gifts are placed under the tree. You draw a number and get to go pick a gift based on the number drawn. Let’s say there were 20 people at that party. The folks who drew numbers closer to 20 definitely have the advantage over folks who pulled in the single digits.
The way the game works is #1 goes up to pick a gift. Then, #2 has the option of ‘stealing’ your gift or picking one of the remaining presents. The game continues until everyone has gone.
There were definitely some bruised egos that day. I can’t remember the details but let’s just say lots of folks lost the present they wanted. Fortunately for me, I picked a chocolate something and no one stole it from me, even though I picked very early in the game. So I fared well.
Another time I played the game, I took a different strategy. I picked the strangest, gaudiest gift under the tree. It was a large Pez dispenser in the form of a clown.
Needless to say, no one swiped it from me. And, I don’t remember any sad faces that night.
Still, I’m not a big fan of any game that hurts peoples’ feelings. I’m also not a fan of its distant cousin – ‘the gag gift game.’ I really don’t see the purpose.
Lots of folks swear by it. I’m glad it is not part of our tradition.
I’d much rather sing poorly or, better yet, develop a unique greeting for Christmas Eve calls! Whatever the case, I hope no one thinks our traditions are quirky.
JG
Originally posted 12/9/2014
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