Christmas

“The transmission of customs or beliefs from generation to generation”

Tradition.

In many ways I am too much of a free spirit to follow much tradition.  But Christmas.  Christmas breaks all the rules.  We had traditions around Christmas since I was born and it will take a small miracle for me to break any one of those. 

Where do I start?  There is endless Christmas baking that not even 10 families could eat.  What is my mom thinking!?  All I know is she bakes with LOVE and that is the reason for platters overflowing with variety.  This is a majestic display of her love.  

The sharing.  Each Christmas each person shares their gratitude for the past year.  For many years nobody got through it without snotting all over, blubbering through their gratitude.  We seem to be a little more poised the past number of years, streamlining it to a couple of sentences and not as many tears.  This is always followed by a Christmas message from my mama. 

The sponge mattresses all over the floors everyone hanging out with the Christmas music and the thick aroma of FAMILY.  You can always count on my mom for some new fun activity such as throwing fake snowballs and a big family snowball fight.  

BINGO.  We play bingo each Christmas. After gifts.  We each bring 5 - $5 gifts so we end up with about 60 gifts in the middle of the floor.  1 line wins.  2 lines.  4 corners.  And blackout.  Each card gets used 4 times.  Until we get through all the gifts.  It is the best tradition ever, lasts a few hours and everyone has fun.  

The fireplace.  Ahhhhhh the fireplace.  I don’t remember a single home that I grew up in without a fireplace… with real wood.  And the tradition of the whole family sleeping by the fireplace on Christmas eve.  This is something we will never forget.  Getting hardly any sleep but keeping the tradition.  

These traditions and more.. we have kept them with our own children.  This is how we know Christmas.  And this year, on December 21 we have the alignment of Jupiter and Saturn.  The “Christmas Star” or the Bethlehem Star that is said to have lead the wise men (Magi) to Jerusalem and ultimately to Bethlehem where Jesus Christ was born.  And since that day we celebrate CHRISTmas to celebrate the birth of Christ.

This year in the chaos we hold on to this Christmas Star.  Knowing it is also the Age of the Aquarius leading us into a new season.  As the planets align differently and the earth shifts, this Christmas season promises new hope in 2021.  

In one sleep we will carry out all of our tradition.  The food, the mattresses on the floor, the sharing, crying, laughing, singing, the gifts, the bingo and then the fireplace sleepover.  But this year, we hold out belief for good things to come in 2021.  And no matter what happens, let us hold on to our traditions.  This after all is how we know family, how we experience life and in the end this is of utmost value. 

Create tradition!  Keep old ones.  Make new ones.  That will carry from generation to generation.  If you have none, start a few. We take nothing with us when we leave this Earth but let us leave a few traditions that will carry on through the ages in our own families.  

Merry Christmas dear friends.  May your season be blessed with new and old tradition to make memories for generations.