Thanks @steemmate-- yes, there was definitely a serenity of sorts about those days, and there was a strange "fullness" there, as well. It's strange in a sense, because we really didn't "do" anything much by modern standards, and yet we were very happy with the days and the ways things unfolded.
Sounds like you had a really nice tradition of your own... good memories.
Right, that fullness can come naturally in families, especially for the kids I think, who are still new to life and find everything amusing