Old Time Stories

One of the best things about the holidays is that you get to hear interesting and new things from your family...

The other night I was having dinner with some "in-laws" and they were telling me that back in the day when they were married - I think well over 50 years ago - if one of the spouses was a school teacher it was best to get married during one of the school breaks, but not over the summer because the spouse who was the teacher usually had another job during those three or four months. This is the reason they were married on December 26 and why my Grandma and Grandpa were married on St. Patrick's Day - March 17th - because it was spring break. By the way, both the men in these couples were the teachers! Is it still the same for teachers now?

On New Year's Eve at midnight, my Grandma told me it was good luck to eat pickled herring and sour cream. I was curious about this, so I looked it up, and sure enough this tradition is passed down through people of Lithuanian, German and Polish descent. I unfortunately didn't eat any - or maybe that is fortunate, I'm not sure I'd like pickled fish - so I guess I'm not a shoe-in for good luck and good health in the new year... we'll see what happens...