CHRISTMAS is just around the corner and I know things are starting to get crazy. Parties left and right, gift hunting, plans for Christmas dinner and every kind of reunion that it’s usually scheduled around this time.
Christmas vacation for the kids has come so that makes it even busier for everyone! Of course, things are more relaxed now that they are on their Christmas break, right? It’s all good!
Christmas is always time for family. It is time for getting together and bonding. Our country, I have always believed, has the best Christmas season in the world! We start really, really early. I remember that I actually stayed up till the eve of September 1 so that I can greet my friends and family on the first minute of the first day of the first of four Ber months of the year! Hahahaha. Cheap thrills but it was fun making the effort!
Some people put up their Christmas decorations immediately. We usually do ours after All Souls Day. Well, not this year and I can't even remember last year. When I left last Tuesday for my last (?) trip this year, the decorations were still in their boxes. I don't know if I will be coming home to a fully decked out in Christmas-y feels like home when I get back tomorrow.
I do have to admit though, that things have not been the same since my father died. He was our Santa Claus do you can just imagine the drastic change in our yuletide festivities since his passing. Christmas was a big deal to him, maybe because he came from such humble beginnings. He would have that glimmer in his eyes whenever he'd see the Christmas lights dancing reflections off the tinsel decors on Christmas trees. He would close his eyes and hum (or sing) the Christmas carols whenever it played. I miss that about him every Christmas we've had without him.
I know we all feel that way about our loved ones who have gone on to spend their Christmases with the big man upstairs. Although the void they left in our lives aches during special times like this, we know that they're at peace now. That should at least give us some comfort, right? It is up to us to continue to make their memories alive and celebrate Christmas the way they would want us to do it, the same way when they were still with us.
That being said, what is your family's traditional Christmas feast? I always expect fruit salad, chicken macaroni soup, sweet ham and rainbow-colored loaf bread on our table. That's all I need to make my Christmas feast festive. Yum Yum Yum!
Christmas need not be grand. I think the most important thing is that we remember what the celebration truly commemorates. It is all the Saviour and spending it with family and friends who mean the world to us. It is also sharing what we have with others so that they can also feel even a bit of Christmas in them.
Happy Sunday Everyone! :)