Opinion: Seasonal greetings from Stratford Press editor Ilona Hanne

A nativity scene on display at the Holy Trinity Church in Stratford in December 2023. Photo / Ilona Hanne

OPINION

Christmas traditions. I’ve been thinking about those a lot this month.

Mainly because for me, they have changed dramatically over the years. Over 20 years ago now, I traded the chance of a white Christmas (although in Devon, that was actually normally a wet, cold but non-snowy version) for Christmas on the beach. I traded Brussels sprouts for fresh strawberries and roasted chestnuts for roasted kūmara, and have given up on trying to drink mulled wine on what often turns out to be a very warm and sunny day.

My husband is German, meaning he has his own range of Christmas traditions that are as different from my English ones as they are to our adopted Kiwi homeland ones. (Well, he would, if he wasn’t a self proclaimed Christmas Grinch, anyway.) As we have had our own family - with three 100 per cent Kiwi kids added to the mix over the years - this has meant creating a kind of pick-and-mix form of Christmas, taking traditions from each of the three countries to create our own unique way of celebrating the season.

So we have a visit from Saint Nikolaus on December 6, dropping a gift or two into a shoe if the kinder have been good; we may open a present on Christmas Eve as that’s when the German family do so; and on Christmas Day itself, while we’re unlikely to have a barbecue due to vegetarian children, we’re likely to make a Durban curry in a nod to my mother’s side of the family, or elect to have picnic on the beach in the name of all things “easy to do with less washing up”.

My point being that Christmas has become a smorgasbord of traditions in our home, where we have chosen the ones we like (presents on December 6 are always a win with the youngest in our family) and dropped the ones we aren’t such fans of (sorry Brussels sprouts, even Jamie Oliver can’t save you).

One tradition I really love is a nativity scene. It was a constant in my childhood each year. Even during the Christmases we spent on a ship (my father was in the merchant navy and we got to travel with him), a nativity scene was always present. We started with a cardboard cut-out, which had upgraded to a beautiful carved wooden one by the time I was a teenager, but no matter what it was made of, its arrival and the event of it being set up in the lounge meant it was Christmas. My father and I would irritate my mother by moving the three wise men daily (well, they were still travelling to Bethlehem when the saviour was born - they didn’t get there until the sixth, so why do they turn up in the Christmas tableaux when the shepherds are still there?)

Touring the Christmas light trail in town over the last few evenings, I have really enjoyed seeing some nativity scenes, and have sought them out in each church I’ve been in for various carol services, nativity plays and the like.

For me, nativity scenes capture Christmas perfectly - for other people it may be family time, the lights, Christmas parades, or perhaps barbecues and the beach days.

Whatever it is that you love about this time of year, and however (and whatever) you celebrate, may your festive season be all you wish for, and may 2024 bring only good things to you and yours.

The team at NZME Taranaki, including the Stratford Press team, are away from our desks enjoying our own traditions from December 22 to January 8. However, you can still stay up to date online at www.stratfordpress.co.nz and on our socials.