Melvin and Eleanor Sellers of Bethel Baptist Church, Dora, in Sulphur Springs Baptist Association have experienced some changes in their family traditions in 56 years of marriage. Some things, however, remain the same, including their Christmas eve dinner. About 25 people, including their three children, nine grandchildren and three great-grandchildren, gather at the Sellerses’ home for a big meal and to open gifts.
“This is one of the few times during the year when our whole family gets together, and it is a real blessing,” Eleanor said.
The small children still get toys as gifts, but a few years ago, the Sellerses started a new gift-giving tradition for everyone else. As the children and grandchildren got older, they began to appreciate receiving money for Christmas. Now Eleanor inserts money or a gift certificate into an envelope marked with the recipient’s name and hangs the envelopes on the Christmas tree with colored clothespins to make them look festive.
Don Batson, pastor of Bethel Baptist, said the family’s love for each other is evident. “One thing I’ve observed about the Sellerses in the five years I’ve been their pastor is that they cherish their family,” he said. “As they celebrate Christmas, they celebrate family.”
Celebrating family is what many Alabama Baptists want to do at Christmas, and this celebration may be reflected in the form of Christmas traditions. Traditions may be as simple as hanging tree ornaments that have been in the family for years or elaborate as a family vacation to an exotic ski resort.
Food plays a large part in most family Christmas traditions, but some south Alabama families forego the usual ham in favor of a seafood dinner. Ted and Sharon Moffett of First Baptist Church, Spanish Fort, in Baldwin Baptist Association always celebrate Ted’s birthday — which is Dec. 23rd — and their family’s Christmas eve gathering with a huge seafood dinner.
Sharon especially enjoys baking for her family as well as for elderly church members and neighbors at Christmastime. “People need to pull together and be together,” she said. “I love giving candy and other baked goods to people who may not get anything else from someone outside their family.”
Her two daughters and their families always request their favorite candy, pecan turtles, so Sharon makes extra portions of that Christmas treat (see recipe below).
The Ashcrafts, also members of First, Spanish Fort, enjoy a seafood Christmas dinner, too. Jimmy and Chris Ashcraft, their four children and eight grandchildren feast on catfish that Jimmy catches in the weeks before Christmas.
Whether the family gathers on Christmas or several days before, Chris said they enjoy some longstanding traditions. Jimmy reads the Christmas story from the Bible, and the family sings carols before opening gifts.
The Ashcrafts especially enjoy filling shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child and participating in the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for international missions (LMCO), she said.
First, Spanish Fort, sponsors a Christmas post office every year, where church members send Christmas cards to other church families. The church distributes the cards, and each family donates the price of postage saved to the LMCO.
The Blaylocks of Hartselle have several traditions to emphasize the importance of giving rather than receiving during the Christmas season. John and Michelle Blaylock of First Baptist Church, Hartselle, in Morgan Baptist Association said they want their six children to know that God’s gift to the world, Jesus the Savior, is the basis for giving gifts to each other.
The Blaylocks try to adopt a family each year to give presents to, and when that is not possible, they make donations of food and other gifts through their church. When the children, ranging in age from 2 to 16, are old enough to know where their “Santa Claus” presents come from, their parents let them share the joy of planning and surprising the younger children. Michelle said this teaches the importance of giving gifts out of love and not a need for recognition or getting something in return.
Children are also a major part of Steve and Jeanne Manning’s Christmas celebration. The couple, members of First Baptist Church, Fort Payne, in DeKalb Baptist Association, has three daughters. They also include as part of their family a young Cuban woman, 21-year-old Rosita Ruiz, whom the Mannings met in the Dominican Republic.
The Mannings cut a Christmas tree the Saturday after Thanksgiving. They also hang stockings that have been in the family for years. Jeanne’s stocking was knitted for her when she was born, and her sister continued the tradition, knitting stockings for each of Jeanne and Steve’s children at birth.
The family makes a birthday cake for Jesus and sings “Happy Birthday” to Him. On Christmas Day, Jeanne’s father reads the Christmas story from the Bible to the family. The Mannings always invite someone who would not have another place to be on Christmas to enjoy dinner with their family as well.
Christmas traditions also change as families change.
Martha Taul of First, Hartselle, has to celebrate Christmas across several thousand miles with her daughter, son-in-law and two grandchildren serving as International Mission Board missionaries in a high-risk area. Martha and another daughter, who lives in Hartselle, shop for Christmas gifts and mail the packages in August every year.
The Taul family’s Alabama Christmas celebration includes all the usual traditions of food, gifts and decorations, but their day also includes a phone call to their family on the missions field. “I look forward to the years when my daughter and her family are on stateside assignment during Christmas,” Martha said, but she is proud of them for answering God’s call, even though it’s thousands of miles from Alabama.
The Advent celebration at First, Fort Payne, is a highlight of the Christmas season for Steve and Merle Isbell and their four children. Five Sundays before Christmas, Advent is celebrated with the hanging of the greens, lighting the Advent candles, liturgical music, banners and the choir procession into the sanctuary.
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Sharon Moffett’s Pecan Turtles
Ingredients:
1 – 14-oz. pkg. caramels
1 ½ tablespoons milk
2 cups coarsely cut pecans
1 – 12-oz. pkg. semisweet chocolate morsels
1 square unsweetened BAKER’S Chocolate
¼ bar paraffin wax
Directions:
Unwrap caramels and place in 2-quart glass measuring cup.
Microwave on HIGH for 1 to 1 ¼ minutes.
Stir well.
Add milk and microwave on HIGH for 1 ½ to 2 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds.
Stir until mixture is smooth.
Add pecans, mixing well.
Drop by teaspoonfuls onto buttered cookie sheets.
Pat flat and let cool.
Combine chocolates and paraffin in a double boiler, and heat until melted and smooth.
Dip turtles into chocolate mixture, and then place on buttered cookie sheets until cool.
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