Traditions Old and New
Candi Noble-Greathouse of Wheeling said her mother calls each relative about a week before Christmas to take down their requests for dinner.

“Everyone gets to pick, one item we want to eat. She ends up making over 20 items for holidays,” Greathouse said. “She loves to cook.”

Church always is a part of the Christmas celebration, as well. Her family attends Christmas eve services, and if Christmas is on Sunday like last year, they go on that day, too.
Greathouse and husband, Joe, are the parents of 8-month-old Bethany, and are looking forward to starting new traditions in their nuclear family this year.

One tradition she would like to implement is having a birthday party for Jesus on Christmas day.
“If you don’t remind them (the children), then why wouldn’t they think that’s it’s all about them and getting presents?” Greathouse said.

Another tradition she’d like to start is commemorating each year with a new tree ornament.
“One thing we never did as children but I want to do is what friends of our did. They got to go to Hallmark and pick out one ornament each year, whatever they wanted. I really thought that would be a neat thing,” she said.

Tales of Kwanzaas Past
When she first introduced the seven-day celebration of Kwanzaa to her children and the Wheeling community, Diana Bell had to reassure everyone that it was not meant as a replacement of Christmas.
“It’s a completely separate thing. One has nothing to do with the other,” Bell said.

American educator and activist Dr. Maulana Karenga created Kwanzaa to introduce and affirm the importance of community in African culture. It involves seven principles: unity; self-determination; collective work and responsibility; cooperative economics; purpose; creativity and faith.

“We would light a candle every night and have a feast day at the end. We did it as a community; we held it at Grandview Manor, and we also celebrated at home,” Bell said.

At home, she and her husband, Kelly, would discuss each principle with the four children and light a candle. The children then did crafts or activities pertaining to the principle. They made posters representing a principle, for example; and to illustrate collective work and responsibility, each child went through the house and performed a small chore, Bell said.

On the feast day, the community gathered for a harvest celebration, bringing dishes such as sweet potatoes, beans, squash, corn, turkey and more.

“The feast day is a big deal because everybody loves to eat. We had big crowds. We would eat and fellowship and talk about the holiday.”

Some families give gifts for each day of Kwanzaa, similar to Jewish families who give a gift for each day of Hanukkah, Bell said.

“I used to make little necklaces and bracelets to give to the kids. ... But it is an introspective time, time to look at yourself as a person. There were the tangible things, but it also was the gift of wisdom that was emphasized.”

For more information about Kwanzaa, visit www.officialkwanzaawebsite.org

A Polish Wigilia
Growing up 100-percent Polish, Barb Kazmierczak Romick of Wheeling learned to celebrate Christmas with a traditional Christmas Eve feast, known as Wigilias.

She and her husband, John, kept up the tradition when their children were young and continue to do so now that they are grown.

“Tradition has it that you wait for the first star of the evening before you eat, but sometimes I can’t hold the family off that long,” Barb Romick said. The celebration kicks off with the Oplatek, which is the wishing of health and happiness during the breaking of a wafer-like bread.

Traditionally, the meal would include pickled herring, pierogies, mushroom soup, beans and sauerkraut and a dried fruit compote.

“We’ve modernized the menu a bit and start off with shrimp cocktail and then eat Coleman’s fish because we don’t care for the herring, and we have French fries and mashed potatoes and a wilted lettuce salad.” The traditional meal is meatless, but the Romicks also serve ham.

“And most years, my sister makes a Stevie cake,” a Hungarian dessert consisting of a layer of dough topped with strawberry preserves, walnuts and meringue and cut into squares.

After dinner, “we just have family time. We exchange little stocking stuffers and just enjoy being with family,” she said, which includes their two grown children and their significant others, a sister and a sister-in-law. Sometimes they play games or watch a Christmas movie on TV. Last year, she said, they spent hours trying to stump the “20 Questions” electronic game.

Thanksgiving at Nana’s
“Thanksgiving is always spent with our family. I always do a huge dinner,” said Lena Derosa of St. Clairsville.
She and husband, Frank, have four children, 10 grandchildren and a 2-year-old great grandson. She starts making dinner preparations at least a week in advance.

“I always cook a 21- or 22-pound turkey. We have everything everyone else has, you know, the dressing, mashed potatoes, yams, gravy, cranberry salad and pumpkin pie. And there’s usually a vegetable in there, like corn or squash. Everybody eats until they are stuffed, and then we just have a great day together as a family,” Lena Derosa said.

She sets the table with her colorful and festive Fiesta dinnerware and sends everyone home with leftovers.
If her daughter, Angela, who lives in Maine with her family, can’t make it, they at least talk on the phone at some point during the day.

And in honor of the holiday, Derosa asks each person around the dinner table to say what he is thankful for.
“And God knows that we should be thankful.”

Derosa said it is extra-special that each generation has grown up celebrating the holiday at their home.

Turkey Bowl
Thanksgiving is all about the football in Judi Meyer’s family — but not the games on TV.

Rather, for the past 35 years or so, while the women and girls are busy cooking the turkey feast, the men and older boys in the family join their uncles, cousins, brothers and dads — and sometimes friends, too — at a local park for the annual family football game, which they have dubbed the Turkey Bowl.

They play in all kinds of weather, rain, snow or shine.

The youngest children cheer from the sidelines while the older generations play two-hand touch. There’s even a trophy for the winning team.

“When it comes to Thanksgiving, the Turkey Bowl comes first. It gives them something to look forward to every year,” Meyer said.