Reflection and Tradition
During this reflection, as I prepare for Christmas, I began to notice this year that I have melted together a lot of traditions I have picked up in my lifetime. They are traditions that I love and cherish which is most likely why I still embrace them to this day. Some have been traditions I grew up with and some I have learned from others.
I grew up with the tradition that we would attend mass Christmas Eve and then we would head to my father’s family and celebrate Christmas Eve together. We would eat and open gifts. It was always a fun and warm time. We would then come home around 10pm or 11pm and open our gifts and my mother’s family would show up and we would open more gifts and eat and be merry and end up going to bed around 2am or 3am and then the next day we would again have my mother’s family over or head to my aunts and spend the day together eating and playing with new gifts and chatting. It was a relaxing time with the great anticipation on Christmas eve and Christmas day being a happy warm day that felt like it should never end.
Today, we still go to service and we open only a portion of our gifts on Christmas Eve with the anticipation of the next day. We eat and stay up as late as we want. The next day we have a big breakfast and open our gifts afterwards and spend time throughout the day relaxing, talking, enjoying being together and indulging in our gifts.
Another tradition I have adopted is the real tree and Christmas stocking. Growing up we always had a fake tree and never ever Christmas stockings. My ex-husband introduced me into having a real tree which I still purchase to this day and I make sure we have filled stockings as well.
I have created my own tradition in the sense that instead of cooking the traditional turkey or ham dinner, I cook a favourite family meal (or meals!) instead.
I also still roast chestnuts at Christmas time - it is something I grew up with. Recently, I had friends over and they never knew I cooked them and they wanted me to show them how to cook them. I realized how something I always took for granted or just thought everybody else did was a tradition I grew up with. It made me happy and feel warm inside.
So reflect and enhance your traditions! You might be handing something down to someone for years to come! Happy Holidays and Abundance to all in 2016!
