by Nikki Weber
I live a pretty fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants lifestyle. At least twice per month, a friend or family member will text to ask, “Where are you right now?” or “When are you coming back to (insert name of city/country).” But there’s one thing that everyone knows: that I’ll be in Maine for Christmas.
Yes, Christmas in Maine is pretty much just like you’re imagining. Snowy weather, heavy boots and jackets, people calling “Merry Christmas” to their neighbors as they load the car up with gifts. The sun sets by four-thirty, so the houses are lit up with twinkling lights by five o’clock. At my house, my childhood advent calendar hangs on the porch door.
At my parents’ house, they still display the Christmas cards that they receive from friends and family, and I enjoy seeing how the kids have grown and changed from the year before. My parents both come from large families, so the Christmas tradition has always been to gather everyone together, which means that it’s the holiday when I get to see a lot of the people I hold dear to my heart.
Here are some of my Maine family’s Christmas traditions:
Christmas lights tour
Every year, a small group of us huddle into the car and blast the heat while we drive around to see which houses are lit up the brightest. Since we’re in Maine, that could mean driving ten to twenty miles to another town to see the really good lights. Some years, we make the journey to the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens for their Gardens-Aglow event (we always—unintentionally—get tickets for the coldest night of the year).
Canadian meat pie for dinner on Christmas Eve
The actual name for this meat pie is Tourtière, but please don’t ask me to pronounce it! My parents can say it correctly, since they, like many Mainers of their generation, grew up speaking French. This French-Canadian pie is a hearty dish of pork, onions, and potatoes seasoned with poultry seasoning, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. This pie is only made around Christmastime, and every Maine family and bakery has their own recipe. Each person has their own special way of enjoying meat pie, too; I like to put ketchup on mine, my mom prefers mustard, and my dad puts butter right on the top of his steaming piece of pie!
Click here for photos and a recipe for Canadian meat pie.
Blueberry muffins for Christmas morning breakfast
This is a tradition that my mom started over forty years ago. There were two reasons to make the muffins ahead of time. First, because she had three kids who woke up early on Christmas morning wanting their gifts, so she didn’t have time to make breakfast. Second, because she had bags and bags of Maine blueberries in the freezer. My grandfather had blueberry bushes and generously shared them every summer. Maine blueberries are still one of my favorite treats!
A big lunch at noon
Many Maine families have a big lunch right at midday on Christmas. The meal usually includes a brown sugar ham with mashed potatoes and ends with pecan pie. In my family, my mother is Famous (with a capital F) for her ham gravy, which she makes from scratch with the ham, pineapple, and cherry drippings from the pan. We fight over the stuff every year!
Open house for family and friends
My parents are Christmas superstars and have an open-door policy on Christmas day. Starting at four o’clock in the afternoon, friends and family are welcome to come over for drinks, games, gifts, and food. If the roads aren’t icy, we might have thirty or more people spread out across the house. You don’t even know that it’s cold outside because there are so many of to keep the place warm. It’s loud but inviting, and every year I look forward to seeing all the friendly faces.
A large game of Catchphrase
I don’t know how it started, but a spontaneous game of electronic Catchphrase has been part of Christmas day at my parents’ house for over a decade now. You know that if you walk into a certain room of the house, you’re likely to get sucked into this game, which is a cross between Charades and Hot Potato. There is nothing particularly Christmas-y about this game, but it’s easy enough for everyone to play, and it always creates a lot of laughter.
For me, there is nothing like a Maine Christmas, and I am grateful that my husband understands how special these traditions are for me. He is happy to spend the holidays with my family every year without discussion.
If you want a musical take on what a cozy Maine Christmas is like, check out “The Maine Christmas Song”, a favorite of mine!
ABOUT NIKKI WEBER
Nikki Weber is the author of the Maine Campground Cozy Mystery series. She grew up reading in unconventional places: the backseat of a car, the top of the monkey bars on her backyard play set, the corners of the quietest hallways in her elementary school. She loves dogs, nachos, coffee, ice cream, and books. She lives part-time in Maine and spends the rest of the year in Madrid, Spain.
Visit Nikki’s website at https://nikkiweberbooks.com/
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