Merry Christmas! I have another guest blogger - my mom! As a fantastic and creative forger of making holidays bright, I asked my mom to write about a few of her favorite Christmas things, and as Christmas night comes to a close I wanted to post her blog to share with you all, to give you food for thought for this year and for the years to come! Happy Holidays!
When my daughter asked me to write a contribution to her blog about favorite Christmas things, I confess: I procrastinated. Not because I didn't want to be cooperative, but honestly, because I didn't know where to start. There really isn't much I don't like about the holidays, except that I rarely have all the energy to do all of everything I would like to do. Having served as a pastor, I am used to writing three point sermons, it would be natural to come up with my top three favorite things but I don't think I want to go there. I'll just start in and see where I end up.
First of all, my very most favorite part of the holidays are CHILDREN. I love seeing the joy of little ones this time of year... their wonder, excitement and enthusiasm. I love seeing them dressed up in their special occasion clothes: hairbows and shiny shoes, luxury fabrics we wouldn't dare dress them in any other time of year, jingle bells and reindeer sweaters and all kinds of silliness. Children are the reason for the holidays... why we pass on our traditions and beliefs and share our history and hopes for the future.
Christmas cookies are another yuletide favorite of mine, maybe because all children love cookies. My love of cookies began with both of my wonderful grandmothers and the love of baking and cooking they shared with me. I have accumulated a mountain of cookie cutters and cookbooks, and Christmas cookbooks and magazines are almost an obsession. I rarely end up making all the cookies and candies I have ear-marked but, like children looking at toys in the * Wish Book, I spend hours choosing my favorites for this year. (* OK, I know most of you will be too young to remember this but every year, Sears used to put out a Christmas catalog and the back half of the book was always devoted to TOYS. It would arrive in the mailbox shortly after back-to-school and the cover was worn off by Thanksgiving.)
Christmas customs and traditions are another favorite of mine. Every family has their own. I love the ones my family has chosen as our own and am always up for trying a new one. In our family, a tradition is anything we have done at least once and enjoyed. Over the years we have celebrated St. Nicholas Day in the Dutch fashion, St. Lucia's Day in the Swedish fashion, Christmas Tea in the afternoon and dinner in the English style with Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding and Trifle. Our Christmas Eve suppers have varied from the New England Clam Chowder to Swiss Raclette and sometimes our Mexican favorites including Ensalada de Noche Buena (Christmas Eve Salad with orange slices and pomegranate seeds). Customs and traditions are great if they are handed down from generation to generation, but they also just as much fun if they come from a friend, a magazine article or the Food Network.
There is no end to the things I love about the season but I will just close by adding one last holiday favorite of mine: Christmas Carols. I pull out the Christmas music (sheet music and CDs) before the last of the Halloween candy is eaten. Because I have had piano students for the last 20 years, "we" start practicing carols the first of November, and most years ended with a Christmas recital. I love introducing my students to new carols and teaching them the stories of how our favorite carols came to be. I remember the year my daughter first played Carol of the Bells (beautifully, I might add!) and the year my son and I played a trumpet-piano duet. And then there were many years of carols in church: The Hanging of the Greens, the Service of Lessons and Carols in the chapel of San Francisco Theological Seminary, watching the children's choirs in the white robes and big red bows, trumpet duets performed by Son and Friend, Sunday School Pageants, caroling in the nursing homes and homes of shut-ins, and sitting with big wooly gloves on and rubbing my fingers so they would stay warm enough to play Silent Night by candlelight at the close of Christmas Eve Service. Every year was different but, miraculously, every year is the same. And I love every minute of the entire season.
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