I am so flipping excited that it is Christmas Eve! Not that you would know it to look at me. I’m not one of those ‘jump up and down shout it out excited’ kind of people, but the inner me is doing some serious holiday dancing!
Today our kids and little people will arrive to start off the Christmas celebrations and I’m so very happy to have them here to eat and talk and laugh and share gifts.
But here is what I am the very happiest about this year: for the first time in quite a few years, my brothers and sister and our parents and our families will all be together for Christmas. I can’t really remember the last time we had a Christmas together, but it’s been a while.
Due to some serious health issues, our parents decided to skip the annual winter escape to Arizona. Back in June we thought we were losing Dad. We were at the point of gathering the family and making sure we had some time together just in case. It was hard. Really, really hard. But somewhere along the way we had a bit of a miracle and Dad is still here and is doing great so we’re having Christmas together and it ought to be a great one because we sure know how to have a good time when we get together!
Christmas has always been a special time for our family, overflowing with traditions. Heaven forbid anyone try to skip a single one.
I remember the year Dad thought he didn’t need to read the Christmas story. It was like the Grinch had stolen Christmas out from under our noses. The shock. The horror. And then without further comment the family Bible was dropped in Dad’s lap – not that he needs it, he can recite that passage by heart he’s read it aloud so many times. At this point, the book is more of a prop and I’m sure he won’t have it tomorrow at our brother’s but guaranteed we will hear the story. It’s tradition.
It’s our traditions that are part of what bind us together. Shared history, memories, family ties…love. Our parents are the glue, they are what keep us coming home, getting together, but somewhere along the way we need to become the glue too. We need to start taking over some of the responsibility for keeping those family ties strong. That means keeping the old traditions and making sure that we start some new ones with the next generation.
This past week, we took our little people for an evening drive to see some of the beautifully decorated homes. It was so much fun to hear them in the backseat, “Look! Santa and a sleigh and candy canes and a star and Baby Jesus!” Their wonder was delightful! I’m hoping we can make it an annual event, a new tradition. I want our kids and grandkids to have those memories, those traditions that make Christmas special, something that we all look forward to every year, something that will remind us how very blessed we are.
I hope you have some of those kinds of traditions in your life. I hope that tomorrow, like me, you will have time to pause and look around the room and feel that heart swell of emotion when you realize how very good life is, how much love we share, and how blessed we are. I know it won’t be that way for everyone, but it is my greatest wish that some day it will be.
“And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host saying ‘Glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace goodwill to men.'”
So Merry Christmas, my friends, may this season and the coming year be filled with love, laughter, and hope! With much love from,
This Little Light
Hi Cathy – aren’t traditions everything? “It’s not Christmas without…”
Sometimes it’s funny how they start – I go to my sister’s place at Christmas, and one year I brought a lemon meringue pie. Don’t know why – it wasn’t a ‘tradition’ – just thought it would be special. This year I got to teach my oldest niece a couple days before Christmas how to make Nanna’s pie crust (because it’s the best and flakiest!) and roll it out, and we made 2 – from scratch and the box kind Nanna always used…just to do a taste test and see what everyone would like. I think we started a new tradition.
Thanks for sharing yours.
Fantastic Laura! What a wonderful tradition to start with your niece! Food is such a central part of our celebrations. It can be one of those secret recipes that gets passed down in the family now 🙂