Why I Like the Kissing Ball

A tradition in my family is hanging the kissing ball. The kissing ball is always the last decoration we hang, and we always have a giant party to celebrate. My family, friends and neighbors come over to eat dinner and dessert, and halfway through the evening my dad hangs the kissing ball in the doorway between the dining room and the living room.

After it is hung everybody takes turns walking underneath the kissing ball to the living room, where they leave a piece of paper with an act they forgive another person for in a bowl, and something they hope to be forgiven of. We mix up all the papers and throughout the night my mom reads the forgiveness slips out loud. This is my favorite part of the night, because whenever something that is forgiven corresponds with something that somebody hoped to be forgiven of, we all cheer “to peace!” and take a sip of our drink. There are never any names written on the slips, so nobody gets embarrassed, but it's always nice when you know you're being forgiven for something. I also like it because sometimes it's easier to forgive somebody on paper than it is to say it out loud.

Also, whenever you pass underneath the kissing ball at the same time somebody else does, you have to give them a kiss! Every year Melissa, the neighbor girl, always tries to trick me into walking underneath the kissing ball with her. I try to avoid her, but somehow she always manages to sneak in beside me as I'm walking underneath it! It's not that I mind kissing her on the cheek so much, but my brother and my uncle always tease me afterwards, which can be pretty embarrassing. Sometimes I write down that I forgive them for embarrassing me on my forgiveness slip.

I've always wondered where the tradition of the kissing ball came from, and this year my teacher explained it to my class. Hanging the kissing ball comes from the tradition of hanging mistletoe, which comes from a Scandinavian belief that mistletoe was a plant of peace. An ancient custom from Scandinavia was that if enemies happened to meet each other beneath mistletoe, they would lay down their arms until the next day, and that is why we kiss underneath mistletoe.

We used to hang mistletoe, but one year some of the berries fell off and my mom was afraid my little sister or our cat, Missy, would eat the berries and get sick, so we started putting up a kissing ball instead. I like the kissing ball better than mistletoe because it is still a symbol of peace and forgiveness, but it is safer and prettier than mistletoe.