Well, twas the night before the night before Christmas and the holly wreaths are hung throughout the house, the tree is decorated,and some of the presents still need to be wrapped. In our home we celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve because I am from the South originally and that's the way they do it there. So tomorrow I will make "Christmas chile" and corbread which has been our Christmas Eve dinner tradition for about ten years now. It simmers all day so the rest of the day is spent WAITING. We open our presents from each other Christmas EVE and Santa pays a visit to our stockings overnight with small gifts. We will be spending Christmas day with my sister and brother in law because that's when they celebrate Christmas, on Christmas itself. It's worked out well over the years because we get to celebrate for TWO days. Christmas is meant to be a joyful time of year and I have always looked forward to the holidays.
But as the years have passed me by, each year as Christmas approaches I lament the fact that Christmas has to a great degree become an almost entirely commercialized holiday. The cookies are fun to make and a joy to give, the gifts are also pleasing to give, and my children's smiles touch my heart, but the endless shopping leaves me in a tireless frenzy! Is this what Christmas is supposed to be about I ask? Is it just a shopping spree to fulfill everyone's materialistic wishes or is it a time to reflect? Is it not at the end of the calendar year and preparing us for the year to come? Christmas is quite simply the day on which Christians celebrate the birth of Christ. And while we busy ourselves with the trappings of the secular holiday, let us not forget the message that Jesus sent to us, to love one another as we do ourselves.
I send to all my friends, Christian, Muslim, Jewish and all other faiths, a mother's wish for peace in your lives in the year to come. Merry Christmas, Eid Mubarak, and Hanukah wishes to all. Below you can listen to "Ave Maria", the song I look most forward to each year as I attend midnight mass on Christmas eve.
BEAUTIFUL Twinsie ... absolutely BEAUTIFUL!! I can't agree more to your analysis to what Christmas is supposed to be ... and what was it became over the years - an almost entirly commercialized holiday which, after the traditional shopping-spree, leaves one with the tongue to the ground and simply exhausted!
ReplyDeleteFor me personally, Christmas without gifts would be absolutely appropriate ... just to be with family and loved ones, enjoy a nice meal, the togetherness, harmony - often rare occasions and moments in our hectic lives!
Thanks so much for highlighting all those aspects ... you're the BEST!! :-)
I like this post it has tought me a lot.Thanks for sharing.Wish you all the best :)
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