a november Christmas
we're celebrating Christmas with my family the day after thanksgiving. it was actually my idea...my rents are out of town until the 3rd weekend of december and that weekend my niece will be up at her biological dad's...then both steve and i and my brother and his family will be at the in-laws on Christmas weekend...and then my folks take off for arizona...so this was the next best thing.
but it feels so strange. i don't mind celebrating on a different day, but a part of me doesn't feel the 'Christmas spirit'. but then i think, exactly what is the Christmas spirit? although i try to focus on Christ and make sure that He is the center of my Christmas, i have to admit that i like the commercial hoopla involved around the holidays as well. i mean, i don't like all the commercialism...but i like the lights and sounds and smells. i like the vibration in the crowds. i like that hum of excitement and family time and yummy food and drink and the smells of sweets baking and evergreen. it excites me. it gets me in the mood. it's Christmas.
my family had many Christmas traditions. i loved them all. we always went to the early service on Christmas eve. we dressed up and took pictures before we left. the service we went to was filled with singing and candles and motion singers (yeah, my brothers and i always made fun of them, it was the yearly joke...wondering if they would perform the same thing). the service was the same thing every year. it was pretty ridiculous...but we liked it. we came home to eat sweets that my mom and grandma had made and drink wassail. we just talked and laughed and enjoyed each other. the 3 kids read a book. always the same. jeff read the night before Christmas. aaron read..Christmas in the forest and i, the youngest read o what a very special night. after, we'd lay out our stockings and go to bed. this went on though my college years. it was pretty ridiculous. but it was tradition and we always loved it.
the next morning we'd wake. we would get to go through our stockings...we still do stockings! and then my mom would make breakfast. always the same. ula-cocka...it sounds gross...but it's a norwegian sweet bread and it rocks, fried eggs, sausage links, orange juice, coffee and of course kadota figs. every year the same. Christmas dinner changes now. some years it's turkey...last year it was a dungeness crab and seafood feast. but yeah. that's our Christmas in big rapids. every year the same. still...except the book reading thing...there had to be an end to that at sometime!
this year though. the day after thanksgiving. there's been no time to get me in the mood. and with the summer as we had it, it flew by. i can't even believe it's almost thanksgiving let alone time for us to celebrate Christmas. it just feels so strange. i mean, we'll be together and that's what's important. but it just feels so strange. i want to get in the mood. i want to start baking..but that's the last thing i need right now...i want to get a tree...but the time Christmas rolls around it would be a mess...i need to find inspiration. i think i may sit down and read Luke. get back to the heart of Christmas.
but it feels so strange. i don't mind celebrating on a different day, but a part of me doesn't feel the 'Christmas spirit'. but then i think, exactly what is the Christmas spirit? although i try to focus on Christ and make sure that He is the center of my Christmas, i have to admit that i like the commercial hoopla involved around the holidays as well. i mean, i don't like all the commercialism...but i like the lights and sounds and smells. i like the vibration in the crowds. i like that hum of excitement and family time and yummy food and drink and the smells of sweets baking and evergreen. it excites me. it gets me in the mood. it's Christmas.
my family had many Christmas traditions. i loved them all. we always went to the early service on Christmas eve. we dressed up and took pictures before we left. the service we went to was filled with singing and candles and motion singers (yeah, my brothers and i always made fun of them, it was the yearly joke...wondering if they would perform the same thing). the service was the same thing every year. it was pretty ridiculous...but we liked it. we came home to eat sweets that my mom and grandma had made and drink wassail. we just talked and laughed and enjoyed each other. the 3 kids read a book. always the same. jeff read the night before Christmas. aaron read..Christmas in the forest and i, the youngest read o what a very special night. after, we'd lay out our stockings and go to bed. this went on though my college years. it was pretty ridiculous. but it was tradition and we always loved it.
the next morning we'd wake. we would get to go through our stockings...we still do stockings! and then my mom would make breakfast. always the same. ula-cocka...it sounds gross...but it's a norwegian sweet bread and it rocks, fried eggs, sausage links, orange juice, coffee and of course kadota figs. every year the same. Christmas dinner changes now. some years it's turkey...last year it was a dungeness crab and seafood feast. but yeah. that's our Christmas in big rapids. every year the same. still...except the book reading thing...there had to be an end to that at sometime!
this year though. the day after thanksgiving. there's been no time to get me in the mood. and with the summer as we had it, it flew by. i can't even believe it's almost thanksgiving let alone time for us to celebrate Christmas. it just feels so strange. i mean, we'll be together and that's what's important. but it just feels so strange. i want to get in the mood. i want to start baking..but that's the last thing i need right now...i want to get a tree...but the time Christmas rolls around it would be a mess...i need to find inspiration. i think i may sit down and read Luke. get back to the heart of Christmas.
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