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Christmas Is…

December 25.  One of my favorite days of the year.  Yeah, yeah, almost everyone loves Christmas.  I hear you.  What’s not to love?  Sparkling lights, Christmas trees, Christmas stockings, Christmas cookies — the list goes on and on.  And who doesn’t like presents?  No one.

Christmas is about family.  Gathering together to celebrate the holiday and the family.  Mary, Joseph and their tiny baby, Jesus huddled together in a stable.  Now each year we travel near and far to be with the people we love and care about during this special time.

Christmas is about children.  Santa Claus, his elves, and that crazy red-nosed reindeer were the subject of stories, cartoons, and some pretty terrible photos with Santa.  Don’t even say you didn’t have certain Christmas programs you couldn’t miss — Rudolph, Frosty the Snowman, and Santa Claus Is Coming to Town (to name a few).  Parents wrap gifts on the sly while the kiddos are asleep.  Most parents have experienced the early, early  A.M. construction of a bike or a wagon.  It’s followed by two hours of sleep because the kids are up at 5 A.M.

Christmas is about doing good works for others less fortunate than ourselves.  Donations to Toys for Tots and food pantries are synonymous with the season.  Inviting people to your celebration who would otherwise spend it alone with a microwave dinner.  It should be a time of peace and harmony.

Christmas is about our spirit, our soul, and our faith.  A Midnight Mass with the church packed full of the faithful singing the beautiful hymns and carols with real joy.  It’s standing in the cold night outside of St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rome waiting to go inside to Midnight Mass with the Pope.  A couple of voices join together singing a carol to pass the time.  Before long, a diverse group of people from my different countries add their voices to the song.  This memory from twenty-five years ago can still make me cry with the beauty of humanity.

I wish you a joyful, peaceful holiday where love is the order of the day.

And, I pray for compassion and kindness in abundance this day and every day.

 

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Thanksgiving Memories

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It’s the time of year when fall ends and the Christmas season begins (although in retail stores, it began in October!).  Sweater weather is here.  In the Midwest, it’s been around for a couple months.  In Los Angeles, it has just begun.  Too bad I brought only one sweater with me.  I’m currently in LA visiting, and I’m certain the weather will warm up soon.  This is when I put an optimistic smile on my face.

pumpkin-1706702_1920Over the years, I’ve had many memorable Thanksgiving Days.  In my youth, we headed over the river and through the woods…Oops!  Wrong story!  We drove past open fields covered in snow with their crops harvested for another year.  We would arrive at my grandparents’ home.  It was a white cottage down the road from a country church where my mom taught Sunday school before meeting my father.

Anytime we went to Gram’s house was a special occasion.  Whether it was a Sunday dinner or a holiday feast, she would have put together a meal suitable for a crowd of hungry farmers after working in the fields all day.  Instead, she had a handful of little rugrats and their parents to feed.

Holiday dinners would always have two different types of meat, typically a large turkey and a ham.  Multiple side dishes strained the table with their combined weight.  Mountains of mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, corn, baked rolls, cranberry sauce, jello salad and a number of other treats were prepared with great care for her family.  I give thanks for Gram’s love.

After the meal, the adults would sit around with full stomachs and converse on the topics of the day — news, local gossip, the weather, and sports.  You would know they were ready for dessert when they began talking about food again.  I give thanks for my extended families — aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents.

In later years,  our celebrations were smaller when the preparations became too much for Gram.  We would stick with our nuclear families and visit Gram in her little apartment.  When we lived overseas, we would invite other Navy families and single sailors to our Thanksgiving Day dinners.  I give thanks for being privileged to have served my country.

On this Thanksgiving, my active duty son will be gone serving his country.  I am 2000 miles from my husband and eldest son.  I’m spending this Thanksgiving with my new daughter-in-law.  I give thanks for my lovely family and their health and safety.

New traditions will begin as our family grows and changes in the years to come.  This is why I give thanks.