One of the reasons I love the Christmas holiday is the traditions.

I love reviving old family traditions, and making new ones.  I love remembering fondly the things that I did as a child at Christmas time and the things I couldn’t wait to do again.

As an adult, I get to make sure our family participates in our traditions and make new ones.

One tradition from my childhood that I loved was the story of the Cinnamon Bear.  A local radio station would broadcast the story in fifteen minute increments starting around Thanksgiving and running through Christmas Eve.  The story debut in 1937 and is still broadcasted here in Portland, with the expectation of a few years.

I don’t remember listing to it in the evening (of course that doesn’t mean we didn’t), which is when it usually aired.  But I do remember my grade school teacher had the recording and each day we would sit as a group and listen to the story.  The story is about a pair of twins who wonder up to the attic to look for Christmas decorations and find themselves transported to a magical land.

In Portland Lipman Wolfe sponsored the radio broadcast and the Cinnamon Bear would visit the Lipman’s department store every year at Christmas.  When we went to see Santa at Meier & Frank‘s Department Store we would also head over to Lipman’s for a visit with the Cinnamon bear.  Over the years the store was bought out and eventually closed for good in 1990.

Sometime in the last 10 years, the Portland Spirit Cruise Ship started hosting a Cinnamon Bear Cruise.  The cruise ship is 150′ yacht with three public decks, it usually hosts dinner cruises up and down the Willamette River.

The Cinnamon Bear Cruise is a two-hour cruise that includes pictures with the Cinnamon Bear, story time and a magic show.  Kids also get to meet other characters of the story and become Honorary Candy Buccaneers in the wheel house.

When Ian’s first Christmas was approaching I was delighted to find that he gets to enjoy this Christmas memory I had growing up.  Even if his memory will be  a little more elaborate than mine was.

Even though we know what to expect each year when we go on the cruise, I still enjoy going and I hope my kids will for a number of years to come.

If you want to listen to the story you can do so here.

What are your Christmas Traditions?